THE BEST RIVALRY IN SPORTS: SINNER NEEDS MUCH LESS TIME TO OVERCOME ALCARAZ
Nothing is better than watching them collide — even in three hours, four minutes — and if not for his three blown championship points in Paris, Sinner would gun for a Grand Slam at the U.S. Open
So humanly, so reasonably, the emotional bog of five hours and 29 minutes was reduced to three hours and four minutes. If this is the greatest rivalry in sports today — the NFL and college stuff is only regional, Oklahoma City and Indiana won’t apply, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy aren’t there, soccer is European — consider it healthy to know Jannik Sinner won’t lose every time to Carlos Alcaraz.
He has recovered from a steroids scandal and claimed his hammock atop men’s tennis, overpowering Alcaraz in four sets Sunday for his first Wimbledon title. Imagine: If Sinner had won only one of three championship points at the French Open, he would have a trio of Grand Slams this season and would be trying in New York — at the U.S. Open — to join Rod Laver and Don Budge as the only males to win four majors in a calendar year. He also won our tournament last September. Blessed, what if he was going for five in a row?
Some would say he paid the juicer’s price in losing to Alcaraz at Roland Garros. With his tossled red hair, the Italian who grew up near Austria has been immersed in two positive doping tests. The World Anti-Doping Agency forced him to sit three months this year, after he was administered clostebol during massages. Since then, he has righted himself in terms of global perception, if not reality. He now is one of the two best tennis players on the planet, not the second-best.
“I am trying to become a better tennis player and a better person,” Sinner told the Princess of Wales and the crowd at Centre Court.
He did so while trying to avoid a champagne cork that popped onto the surface. Were the Oasis boys, back in concert mode these days, in the stands? “Only here at Wimbledon. That’s exactly why we love playing here,” Sinner said. “It’s a very expensive tournament.”
At 23, one can make the argument that he is better than Alcaraz, who is 5-1 in Slam finals and is only one title ahead of Sinner. Watching them in Flushing Meadows will be a treat, as Alcaraz deals with gossipy trails that he is dating British player Emma Raducanu. He won’t say yes or no, but traditional party animal Nick Kyrgios said he isn’t as focused as his rival. “I’ll say Sinner, because Alcaraz likes girls,” he said. “He might get distracted, he might party too much. That’s my only thing, whereas Sinner will stay a bit locked in.”
Said Alcaraz: “They’re funny comments, which coming from him, don’t surprise me. It’s no secret that Jannik always has fewer ups and downs than me. It’s something I’ve been working on. It has nothing to do with the nightlife world.”
The competition is that serious. In failing to win his sixth Grand Slam and his third at Wimbledon, Alcaraz will hear again that he is inattentive at 22, if not attached to Raducanu. Sinner’s victory proves the Big Two might be as thrilling as the Big Three, after we watched Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for two decades. The duo will keep playing each other for championships, with no one else in the competitive ballpark. Right now, Sinner is up after overcoming the nightmare French kiss.
“Mostly, it was emotional. I had a very tough loss in Paris,” he said. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you win or lose. You have to understand what you did wrong. That’s what we did. I tried to accept the loss. I just kept working. And that’s one of the reasons I hold this trophy.”
Alcaraz is down. “It’s difficult to lose. It’s always difficult to lose,” he said. “But I have to congratulate Jannik. I’m really happy for him.”
They get along. Not once has Alcaraz taken a shot about steroids. The hugs were deep after the final point. “Thank you for the player you are. You are so difficult to play against,” Sinner told him. “We have an amazing relationship on and off the court. We need the best things in the world. Keep going, keep pushing, and you’ll hold this trophy so many times. You already have.”
On this day, there was no chance to lose three championship points. Sinner led 5-4 in the fourth set, was up 40-love and hit one ball into the net. The next was a broiling serve. He raised his arms, lowered himself and stared at the grass. “Trying to go for it — at the end of the day, if he breaks you, I would like to lose the game that I went for with shots,” Sinner said. “Very happy that I held nerves.”
He was allowed to fantasize. “We would never have thought we would be in this position back in the days when I was young. This was only a dream of the dream because it was so far away where I'm from. I'm just living my dream. It’s amazing.”
Praise them together, for now. Djokovic will return to Wimbledon next summer, likely for his farewell. He has won a record 24 Grand Slams — 19 ahead of Alcaraz and 20 ahead of Sinner. “When I’m fresh, when I’m fit, I can still play really good tennis,” said Djokovic, 38. “I reach the semis of every Slam this year, but I have to play Sinner or Alcaraz. These guys are fit, young, sharp. I feel like I’m going into the match with the tank half-empty. It’s just not possible to win a match like that. They are definitely several levels above everyone right now.”
The U.S. Open final is at 2 p.m. on Sept. 7. It’s the first Sunday of the NFL season, with Baltimore playing Buffalo six hours later. Make time. Nothing is better, even if they play for five and a half hours.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.