Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner pushing each other to new levels pre-Wimbledon
Earlier this month Alcaraz, the reigning SW19 champion and second seed, edged out his Italian rival – the world number one – in five thrilling sets, coming from two down and saving three championship points to win a French Open classic.
Between them the pair have carved up the last six grand slams, but their Roland Garros showdown was their first meeting in a major final.
Carlos Alcaraz is a two-time Wimbledon champion (Aaron Chown/PA)
It was the first grand slam final to be contested by two men born this century and set the tone for a generation-defining rivalry along the lines of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Alcaraz has won eight of their 12 meetings, including the last five, but he knows it is far from a one-sided match-up.
'Every match that I play against him is important honestly,' said the Spaniard, 22.
'As I said many times, every time that we face against each other, we raise our level to the top.
Alcaraz and Sinner met in an epic French Open final (Jon Buckle/PA)
'If you want to win grand slams, you have to beat the best tennis players in the world. I think it feels much better when you face them in the final.
'He's going to come back stronger the next time we are going to face each other.
'I'm pretty sure he's going to do his homework. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try to learn from that match how he can be better, how he can tactically make damage in his game.
'I'm not going to beat him forever. That's obvious. So I have to keep learning from the matches I played against him, and hopefully play more grand slam finals.'
Sinner heads to Wimbledon as world number one (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
Sinner has reached two finals – losing both to Alcaraz – since coming back from a three-month doping ban and, despite the current sequence of defeats, says he relishes being one half of such an absorbing duopoly.
'I think every rivalry is different,' said the 23-year-old. 'Back in the day, they played a little bit different tennis. Now the ball is going fast. It's very physical. It's slightly different from my point of view, but you cannot compare.
'I was lucky enough to play against Novak (Djokovic), against Rafa. Beating these guys, it takes a lot. I have the same feeling with Carlos and some other players.
'It's good to see that we can produce tennis like this, because I think it's good for the whole movement of tennis. Of course, I'm happy to be part of this.'
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