Italian star, Jannik Sinner couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the 2024 season. The World Number 1 capped off his most successful year with a bang after winning the Davis Cup title. Earlier, he had already won the Australian Open, the US Open, and the ATP Finals apart from a host of other big titles. While Sinner may be dominating the ATP Tour, there have been many comparisons of him with his rival, Carlos Alcaraz. Earlier this week, Naomi Osaka’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou gave his opinion on who is the better between the two.

Like Sinner, Alcaraz has also enjoyed a largely successful season. He won the Wimbledon Championships and the French Open titles earlier this season. Additionally, he narrowly missed out on the Olympic gold medal, as he had to settle for silver after losing against Novak Djokovic in the summit clash. Despite Alcaraz not making the best of finishes to the season, Mouratoglou feels that he is better than Sinner.

During an interview with Tennis Majors, Mouratoglou heaped praise on Alcaraz, saying, “If we’ve seen Alcaraz beat Sinner more times so far, it’s mainly because Alcaraz can create more on the court. Carlos has that extra power and can also compete with Jannik in terms of movement.”

Further, he went on to add, “The thing is that Alcaraz has been making quite a few unforced errors in recent months, a factor in which Sinner doesn’t err as much. So, their matches have many ups and downs and frequently change; suddenly one is leading for a while, but then the other takes the lead. Nevertheless, when Alcaraz plays his best tennis, I believe he’s better than Sinner.”

To put things into perspective, Alcaraz has a better head-to-head record against Sinner. The two have played each other 10 times, with Alcaraz prevailing on 6 occasions. Additionally, he won all three matches played against Sinner this season, which says all in itself as Sinner gave hardly anything away to his opponents this year.

While Mouratoglou may have given his perspective, there has always been a debate on who is the best player currently on the ATP Tour. Last month, Sinner also made an honest confession in this regard.

Jannik Sinner admits that Carlos Alcaraz is better than him

Very little separates the two when it comes to success on the court. Sinner and Alcaraz have been two of the best players this year and won many tournaments between them. As the ATP Finals took shape nicely last month, Sinner was quick to rank his rival ahead of him, revealing that tennis-wise, Alcaraz had more than him.

Further, Sinner added, “We are two very different players. I keep the pace very high, I am mentally strong. He is physically strong and tennis-wise at the moment he has something more: he plays the slice better, the volleys. But for me it is a positive fact: it means I have margins. Carlos on the court does the numbers: drop shot, passing shot, lob. I don’t know if I will ever be like that. But as a tennis player, I am more solid and when needed I place the winning acceleration.”

While Sinner has been fit for most parts of the 2024 season, Alcaraz suffered from injuries and poor health towards the end of the year. As a result, he wasn’t able to give his best. Nonetheless, Alcaraz would aim to make a strong comeback next season and would probably try to justify Mouratoglou’s views about him.