By Tony Fairbairn
- Jannik Sinner [2] v Carlos Alcaraz [3]
- Alexander Zverev [4] v Casper Ruud [7]
PARIS, FRANCE – Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will renew their rivalry in the semi-finals in Paris as a maiden Roland Garros final awaits the winner.
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Jannik Sinner [2] v Carlos Alcaraz [3] | H2H: Tied at 4-4
After Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal, Jannik Sinner is the first Italian world number one as he has been rewarded for his incredible nine months on the tour. However Sinner isn’t settling for just being the best player in the world as he sets his sights on a first Roland Garros title having had a successful tournament so far. Standing in Sinner’s way is Carlos Alcaraz after the Spaniard sent out another statement of intent with a straight sets win over Stefanos Tsitsipas and is now aiming for his maiden Roland Garros final.
H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Jannik Sinner [2] v Carlos Alcaraz [3] | H2H: Tied at 4-4 |
| Roland Garros 2024 | Paris, France |
| Clay (O) | Prize Money: €650,000 |
| Second on Philippe Chatrier (Not before 13:30 BST) | Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime
Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player |
A new world number one will be crowned on Monday as Sinner will become the first from his country to achieve the feat after an impressive last nine months.
However Sinner doesn’t want to stop there as he aims to win a second Grand Slam title and reach a first Roland Garros final.
Also aiming to reach a maiden final is Alcaraz who has been dominant over the last two rounds as he is now into a second consecutive semi-final at Roland Garros.
The Spaniard has possibly been overlooked after Sinner’s recent dominance and now Alcaraz will look to show why he shouldn’t be underestimated as he aims for a third Grand Slam title.
Speaking after his win over Grigor Dimitrov, Sinner dedicated his summit to world number one to Italy and the system they’ve got in place for players and coaches.
“It means a lot, but I think it’s great for Italy,” Sinner told the Roland Garros website.
“We are a great country with great coaches and players, and we can see this now, how this moment is. I’m happy to be part of this Italian movement. People, they start to play tennis now more and more, which is great to see. I think that’s the most important.
“If someone is No.1 or No.2 or No.10, everyone is trying their best. We have a lot of tournaments. We have junior tournaments and futures and challengers, and we have great tournaments, ATP tournaments, we have ATP Finals in Turin and [a Masters] in Rome, and we had the NextGen [Finals] in Milan. It’s great to see this movement in Italy.
“I think Italy deserves it, no, because it’s a great country. We have everything.”
Meanwhile Alcaraz previewed the semi-final and praised the Italian for pushing him to be the best tennis player he can be.
“It’s a really difficult challenge,” Alcaraz explained to the Roland Garros website.
“Right now, he’s the best player in the world, or the player who is playing the best tennis right now. What can I say about him? We’ve played great matches … high level, and I’m glad to have him in the tour at this level.
“Thanks to him, I push myself to be better, to be a better player, to give my 100 per cent every day, to wake up in the morning and want to improve my game to try to beat him. I love watching him play, as well. I’m ready to take that challenge.
“It is the match that everybody wants to watch, and I’m sure he’s going to show his best tennis – myself, as well, and we’re going to see who’s going to win.”
Sinner will look to be aggressive on serve as he uses the forehand to force Alcaraz into wide positions while using the drop shot effectively, taking advantage of the Spaniard’s deep return position.
Meanwhile Alcaraz will use the backhand to turn defence into attack as he will use the angles to open up the court, allowing the forehand time to finish the point.
There will be lots of long and entertaining rallies with the serve being a key factor for both players and how they can set-up their best patterns of play on their own serve.
This is a tight match to call but clay is Alcaraz’s preferred surface and the Spaniards quicker movement on the surface makes him slight favourite heading into this blockbuster semi-final.
Prediction: Alcaraz in five sets.
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Alexander Zverev [4] v Casper Ruud [7] | H2H: Tied at 2-2
After winning the Rome title, Alexander Zverev has continued the momentum at Roland Garros as he now finds himself in a fourth consecutive Roland Garros semi-final. However Zverev has had to battle through multiple five set matches to get to the semi-finals and will be hoping he hasn’t used up all his energy as he seeks a maiden Grand Slam title. Next for Zverev is another player who is looking to win a maiden Grand Slam title in the form of Casper Ruud who has backed up his title in Geneva with an impressive run in Paris and is now aiming for a third consecutive Roland Garros final.
H2H & Match Fundamentals
| Alexander Zverev [4] v Casper Ruud [7] | H2H: Tied at 2-2 |
| Roland Garros 2024 | Paris, France |
| Clay (O) | Prize Money: €650,000 |
| Third on Philippe Chatrier (Not before 16:30 BST) | Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime
Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player |
Zverev has kicked into form over the last month after a slow start to the clay court season and now finds himself in a fourth consecutive Roland Garros semi-final.
The German will now hope to win one of these semi-finals as he aims for a first final in Paris and a second Grand Slam final.
Now Zverev will look for revenge from last year’s semi-final when he takes on Ruud who continues to battle through the draw having overcome some tough early tests.
The Norwegian is aiming for a third consecutive Roland Garros final as he now senses an opportunity that this could be his best chance to win a Grand Slam title.
Speaking after his quarter-final victory Zverev admitted that he is happy his hard work is paying off.
“I have a mindset that you have to work harder than anyone else to be the best player. I think the best players are all doing that,” Zverev explained to the Roland Garros website.
“I like to work to my absolute limit, and if I do that, then playing five sets, all of a sudden, is not that difficult. I’ve been doing that over many, many years now, and I’m happy it’s paying off, still paying off. I’m happy to be in another semi-final, and hopefully, I can win one.”
Meanwhile Ruud spoke about his clay court game and how he tries to make it as tough as possible for his opponents.
“The goal is not necessarily to play three perfect sets every time and win straight sets, but sometimes you just have to think, ‘Okay, I won’t play perfect, but I’m going to be a tough player to beat in best-of-five sets on clay,” Ruud told the ATP website.
“That’s the kind of mentality that has been working for me. I know if the opponents want to beat me, they’re going to have to play really good tennis for at least three full sets, and I’m going to try to make it tough for them. Physically I’m going to try to be in good shape and make them suffer if I can.
“With my technical game I’m going to try to play heavy and play the kind of clay-court tennis that I like playing. It’s been working well the last two, three years here.”
Zverev will need to be aggressive on serve as he uses the backhand to dominate the baseline exchanges.
Meanwhile Ruud will aim to be clinical on return using the forehand to pin Zverev behind the baseline, allowing the Norwegian to implement drop shots.
This will be a good semi-final but Ruud should have too much quality and too much energy for Zverev in a match between two in-form players.
Prediction: Ruud in four sets.
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