"I saw his age and said wow": Jannik Sinner reveals early knowledge of Carlos Alcaraz's 'amazing' talent in candid interview

World number one Jannik Sinner has revealed that he knew about Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz's special talent ever since they faced each other in an ATP Challengers event five years back. Both players are already regarded as two of the best currently playing men’s tennis in the singles category.

Sinner and Alcaraz recently sat down with CNN, as quoted by Eurosport, during the ATP Finals in Turin. They talked about their journey since they faced each other for the first time five years back. The reigning world number-one stated that he had known about Alcaraz’s special talent since facing him for the first time. Sinner also revealed that after the match, he went into the locker room to meet Alcaraz to learn more about him.

"I saw the draw coming out and saw Carlos Alcaraz, I had no idea who he is," said Sinner. "I saw his age and said wow, he's playing a Challenger [the tier of tournaments below the ATP Tour], it's amazing. Straight away, I was impressed. After the match we went to the same locker room because I wanted to get to know him. He was an amazing talent already back in the day, you could see straight away he was a special player."

Both players are already regarded as the heir of the original ‘Big Four’ in men’s tennis, where four players — Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Britain’s Andy Murray — dominated men’s tennis for good part of the last two decades. Talking about it, both Sinner and Alcaraz stated that they are not thinking too far ahead in their professional career. They were also of the opinion that it was unfair for them to be compared with legendary tennis stars.

"We're not looking too far forward," said Sinner. "It's not comparable with what the Big Three have done, and also the Big Four with Andy [Murray]. There's been this period where these four were always in the semis. Talking for my side, I made just one season like this. They made it in fifteen, twenty years, I don't think it's comparable at all." Alcaraz agreed with Sinner by stating: "Probably for people see[ing] the results the last couple of years, they're going to think that we're going to be the next top two guys who are going to dominate the game, but I see a lot of players right now, the draws are really open."