Carlos Alcaraz will be 'heavy heavy favourite for years' over Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros admits Mats Wilander

Former world number one Mats Wilander believes that Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz will start the French Open as a favourite ahead of Italy’s Jannik Sinner.

Both players are often regarded as the two best young players currently playing in the men’s singles category. In the recent past, Sinner has been undoubtedly the best player in the men’s category and he won the Miami Open after beating Grigor Dimitrov in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-1.

It is because of this reason Sinner has now claimed the number two spot in the ATP rankings, overtaking Alcaraz in the process.

Despite all of that, Wilander, who was recently quoted in a report, believes that Alcaraz will be the favourite ahead of Sinner in the French Open.

“I don’t think Jannik’s going to walk into Roland-Garros as the favourite necessarily unless he puts together three or four great weeks on clay in the clay season beforehand,” said Wilander.

“When it comes to him on clay, he’s going to be compared to Novak Djokovic so many times in his tennis career. He plays more aggressively than Novak most of the time, but the defensive part of his game is very similar. That defence on a clay court doesn’t always work.

“When you’re not willing to step away from the baseline, there’s going to be times when the court is either too slippery or his opponent is playing too well, and so he’s not going to be the favourite at the French Open.

“If I was coaching Jannik Sinner, I’m hoping to see him continue his hard court tennis throughout the first few weeks of the clay court season.

“Keeping in mind, he’s very comfortable on clay being Italian, but I don’t think that he is able to win the French Open if he starts playing a little bit more passive, if he starts not controlling the point, because no matter how good he is at defending, defending with an open stance on the backhand on a clay court one metre behind the baseline is not going to be good enough against certain players on certain days.”

“I think Carlos Alcaraz will come into the French Open as a heavy, heavy favourite for many more years than Jannik Sinner.

“But that doesn’t mean that Sinner, over five sets, won’t win the French Open as many times as Alcaraz, because three out of five sets is a massive advantage for Sinner, being so level-headed the whole time.”