Marion Bartoli expressed her opinion on the differences in the seasons of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
The 2013 Wimbledon champion recently spoke on the Match Points podcast by Tennis Majors about the current rivalry between Djokovic and Alcaraz, placing the Serbian above the Spanish player due to his outstanding performance in all four Grand Slam events of the year:
“One has won three Grand Slam titles this season & the other has won 1. One played 4 Grand Slam finals, the other one played 1. It's that simple… I think we need to look more broadly at how everyone is handling the season. And so far, Novak is doing a better job,” she said.
“That's not to say things won't change, of course. It's obvious that Novak is more at the end of his career than at the beginning. But I found the way he handled this season, his mental strength and his ability to recover from everything extraordinary. And I don't think many people can claim to have the same mental toughness as him,” Bartoli added.
Djokovic and Alcaraz have faced each other four times so far, with a tied head-to-head record of 2-2. When considering their matchups this year alone, the 23-times Grand Slam champion takes a 2-1 advantage, defeating Alcaraz in the semifinals of the French Open and the final of the Cincinnati Open. On the other hand, the young star won the Wimbledon final, where he claimed his second Grand Slam title.
After winning the US Open a few weeks ago, Djokovic decided to skip the Asian tournaments and prepare for his upcoming challenges. As he recently detailed, he plans to compete in the Masters 1000 Paris-Bercy, which begins on October 30, and then participate in the Nitto ATP Finals in November. The Serbian will conclude his season at the Davis Cup Finals.
As for Alcaraz, he traveled to Asia and is in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 China Open, where he will face Casper Ruud. He will also compete in the Masters 1000 Shanghai Open, where he is the top seed, and could potentially narrow the gap with Djokovic in the race for the world No. 1 ranking.
Marion Bartoli on the difference between Novak Djokovic & Carlos Alcaraz: “One has won three Grand Slam titles this season & the other has won 1. One played 4 Grand Slam finals, the other one played 1. It's that simple… I think we need to look more broadly at how everyone is…
