Vanquished Spaniard says rivalry is a class apart

LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz said he could hold his head high despite being unseated from his Wimbledon throne by Jannik Sinner on Sunday, and the Spaniard praised their hot rivalry for being several notches higher than the others on the men's tour.

Alcaraz's bid for a third straight title at the All England Club ended with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 loss on Centre Court, leaving him to digest his first Grand Slam final defeat.

"It's always a bad feeling losing matches. It's a little bit worse when you lose in a final," said Alcaraz, who narrowly beat Sinner in a five-set humdinger at the French Open last month.

"I'm just proud about everything I've done in the last four weeks on grass at London. I played against someone who played an unbelievable game.

"So, I'm just a little bit sad about losing, but I leave Wimbledon, the court, with my head held really high, because I did everything that I could."

Alcaraz said his rivalry with Sinner was great for the pair and also for tennis, which has had to endure the retirements of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray in recent years, with fellow great Novak Djokovic in the twilight of a glorious career.

The young duo have now shared eight of the last nine Grand Slam titles, with each winning four.

"Every time we play each other, I think our level is really high. We don't see a level like this. I don't see any player playing against each other, having the level that we're playing when we face each other," Alcaraz added.

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"This rivalry, it's becoming better and better. We're playing in the finals of Grand Slams, finals of Masters and the best tournaments in the world. It's going to get better.

"I'm just really grateful for that because it gives me the opportunity to just give 100 percent every practice, every day, just to be better. The level that I have to maintain and I have to reach if I want to beat Jannik is really high."

Sinner's coach Darren Cahill admitted that while the Italian did not take any of his rivals for granted, he does pay extra attention to Alcaraz.

"Jannik watches more of Carlos' matches than he does anybody else, because he's fascinated with the improvements that are coming in his game, and he's pushing us as coaches to make sure that he's improving as a tennis player," Cahill said.

Sinner, who ended Alcaraz's 24-match winning run across all events and 20-match streak at Wimbledon, was most pleased with ending his own run of five successive defeats against the Spaniard.

"When you lose several times against someone, it's not easy," said Sinner, who narrowed his win-loss record against Alcaraz to 5-8.

"At the same time, in the past, I felt I was close. I never pushed myself down. I keep looking up to Carlos, because even today I felt like he was doing a couple of things better than I did. So, that's something we'll work on and prepare ourselves, because he's going to come for us again.

"There's not only Carlos, but everyone. We have a big target on us, so we have to be prepared. Then we'll see what's happening in the future."

Alcaraz said he had no doubt that Sinner would learn from his near five-and-a-half-hour loss at Roland Garros, where the Italian squandered three championship points, and hit back.

"I know he's a really nice player and a huge champion. Champions learn from their losses," Alcaraz said.

"I knew from the beginning he was going to learn from that final and not make the same mistakes. The level he played today, it was really high.

"I wasn't surprised at all."

Reuters