American tennis legend Jimmy Connors recently gave Carlos Alcaraz some advice, as the young Spaniard seems to be struggling with his form.
After his defeat by Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Masters final of 2023, Alcaraz’s tennis game declined. The Spaniard’s journey has not been easy since. His poor performance in 2024 added fuel to the fire as he was unable to go to the final of any competition.
In a podcast, Connors has now commented on Alcaraz’s recent challenges. Connors believed that the 20-year-old’s drop in form might be due in part to other players on the tour learning how to outplay him.
Connors stated his remarks about Alcaraz and said: “At a very young age, he [Carlos Alcaraz] has had some pretty damn success. But along with that come some injuries, which we know about. I think some of the players have realized just how to play him or how he plays. What he did so well at the beginning kind of caught them off guard. Maybe they have caught on to that a little bit. Maybe he needs to change up a little bit and try to figure out something else. It’s not a big move; it’s just tiny little scratches along the way that maybe he can change to kind of offset his opponents a little bit.”
He further added: “He might be going through a little bit of a downtime. But you can see he enjoys the game; he works hard at the game, and to continue to be at the top of the game, he is going to have to stay with that.”
According to Connors, young players like Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune are trying to take advantage of their opportunity in the spotlight as Rafael Nadal and Djokovic are approaching the conclusion of their careers and Roger Federer has retired.
He concluded his discussion and said: “[Jannik] Sinner’s coming up, and there is [Holger] Rune. A lot of these guys see that Roger Federer’s gone, and Rafael Nadal might wait through the French and play the Olympics. Who knows what will happen? Djoker is still playing. All these kids are trying to say, ‘Okay, this could be me now. It could be my turn now.’ They are starting to play like it, and they are going to make it nothing but tougher for each other.”
Carlos Alcaraz in 2024
At the moment ranked no.2, Alcaraz played his last match on the 20th of February when he had to retire when playing against world no.102 Thiago Moura Monteiro in the 1st
round and the scoreline was 1-1 .This season Alcaraz has a composed 6-3 record. Carlos Alcaraz’s most significant achievement of the current year was reaching the semifinal in Buenos Aires.
Alcaraz has scheduled to compete next in Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open). He will start the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 4th of March.
Jannik Sinner in 2024
At the moment ranked no.3 (career-high), the Italian played his last match on the 18th of February when he defeated world no.9 Alex De Minaur 7-5 6-4 in the final in Rotterdam to win his 13th career title.
At the moment, during this season the Italian has a compiled 12-0 match record. Jannik conquered 2 titles in 2024 at the Australian Open and Rotterdam.
Sinner will compete next in Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open). He will start to play the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 4th of March.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner fought against each other 8 times. Their current head to head is 4-4. Before, the last time they played, Jannik Sinner won 7-6(4) 6-1 in the semifinal in Beijing (China Open) in October 2023.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner |
| Embed from Getty Images |