Sinner-Alcaraz, the match of the future is already being played today

A classic. The definition is perhaps premature, but not for much longer. Sinner-Alcaraz is the match of the future which is already a reality in the present. The blue and the Spanish are in the semifinals of the first Masters 1000 of the season, in Indian Wells, California. They face each other for the sixth time and the hope is that it will be as good as the last one, but with the opposite result.

The last of the previous ones is in the quarterfinals of the US Open 2022, a defeat of which Sinner said: “It’s going to hurt for a while.” He did badly because the semifinal was one step away and it didn’t arrive and because Alcaraz then went on to win that tournament, his first slam when he was not yet twenty, even reaching the position of number in the world.

Circumstances are different now than they were in 5 hours of play (6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3). Jannik Sinner hadn’t gone this far in a tournament of this level for two years and won by knocking out defending champion American Taylor Fritz. Physically and technically it is much more solid thanks to the work done last year. Carlos Alcaraz, on the other hand, in the event of victory in the tournament, would regain the number 1 in the world ranking, also thanks to the ban on playing in the USA for the unvaccinated Novak Djokovic.

From 2019 to today, Alcaraz and Sinner have faced each other five times: 3 to 2 for the Spaniard. The first at the Challenger in Alicante, Spain, won by Alcaraz as the first fight in a Masters 1000, in Paris in 2021. Sinner’s first success is in 2022 in the round of 16 at Wimbledon and then the one in the final in Umag, Croatia.

Sinner, in case of victory, would equal his best result in the standings, ninth position. It is the second semifinal in a Masters 1000 for the South Tyrolean, after that of the Miami Open in 2021, in which he reached the final, losing against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz. Just in Miami Alcaraz instead won one of his two 1000 career, last year.

There are no records in meetings between the two predestined of the racket: this is the first time in Indian Wells, they have already been to Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, we look forward to seeing them in Paris and Melbourne. The first times of a clash that we expect for the next ten years and perhaps even more as we have been waiting for the clashes between Federer and Nadal for years.

The semi-final of Indian Wells 2023 Sinner-Alcaraz, on Saturday 18 March not before 10:00 pm Italian time, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and streamed on the platform Now TV and on Tennis TV.

– Jannik Sinner, how much does the golden arm of blue tennis earn

– Matteo Berrettini against the prejudices of beauty

– Wimbledon, Sinner in the quarterfinals beating Alcaraz: the match of the future

– Matteo Berrettini, sightings and social clues: new flirt?