Recently, former Italian tennis legend Paulo Bertolucci claimed that Alcaraz is not as good as Sinner on a psychological level. Unsurprisingly, the comment angered some tennis fans on social media.
Bertolucci won a total of six singles titles on the men's tour and reached a career-high world ranking of No. 12 before retiring in 1983. He also captained the Davis Cup Italia team from 1985 to 2001 and Bertolucci currently works as a commentator for Sky Sports.
In a recent interview, he stated that Alcaraz was second to Sinner in mentality. "In my opinion, Alcaraz is great technically and even physically, but mentally, he is light years away from Sinner. He said.
Bertolucci also said in all seriousness that Alcaraz was obsessed with "showmanship". In his opinion, it has cost the Spaniard in recent games. "In addition to winning points, he seeks other things, and many times he looks funny and makes the audience enjoy because the tennis he plays is full of 'special effects'," he said. He's not content with just winning points, he wants to score them in a flashy way. ”
According to Bertolucci, "The good balls are really good to watch and the crowd is happy, but sometimes they can make you lose the game. Sometimes everything is easy and you can have a great time. But when it comes to crunch time, you need to go back to the basics, and that's where he's lacking lately. ”
These comments were not endorsed by fans online. According to some on X (formerly Twitter), Bertolucci ignored Alcaraz's achievements when making his assessment.
"Alcaraz has won 2 Grand Slam titles, he was ranked No. 1 in the world before, and he is younger, which means he is mentally stronger. Please stop the hype, both are good players and will have their ups and downs in their careers. One fan wrote.
Another fan reminded Bertolucci that the Spaniard had just beaten Djokovic in the 2023 Wimbledon final. "You're disrespecting him and saying as if Arca hadn't beaten Djokovic in a Grand Slam final. The fan wrote.
Sinner and Alcaraz have met seven times so far, with the Italians taking a narrow 4-3 lead in the head-to-head meeting. The pair first met on the ATP Tour at the 2021 Paris Masters, where Alcaraz defeated Sinner 7-6(1) 7-5, with Sinner winning the next two matchups.
The two players battled in an unforgettable five-set battle in the quarterfinals of the 2022 US Open, battling it out for five hours and 15 minutes. Eventual champion Alcaraz won at 2:50 a.m. local time with a score of 6-3 6-7(7) 6-7(0) 7-5 6-3. Alcaraz and Sinner last met in the semi-finals of last year's China Open, where the latter won 7-6(4) 6-1 to claim the title. (Source: Tennis Home Author: Spark)