Carlos Alcaraz and his desire to compete against Sinner: “It makes me a better player”
Jannik Sinner is having a memorable year, both positively and negatively. One could say that his 2024 has been a true rollercoaster. He began by winning his first Grand Slam in Australia, and months later, he climbed to the top of the ATP ranking, becoming the first Italian to achieve this feat.
However, everything went downhill from there without brakes. First, he missed the Paris Olympic Games due to tonsillitis, and weeks later, his doping case erupted. It was Sinner himself who made this scandal public, but to confirm that it had been archived, as, according to the player’s account, it was all a mistake by his physiotherapist who applied a cream containing clostebol.
Nonetheless, he overcame all public pressure and clinched the US Open, thus securing his second Grand Slam of the season. Yet, the shadow of doping lingers behind him, as the World Anti-Doping Agency has requested that the case be reopened and seeks a two-year ban.
In this context, he arrived at the ‘Six Kings Slam,’ the exhibition tournament held in Saudi Arabia that brought together the Italian, Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, and Holger Rune. Sinner emerged victorious in the tournament, defeating Alcaraz in the final, and with it, he took home the largest monetary prize in tennis history: $6 million for winning and $1.5 million for participating.
However, according to Sinner, this financial amount does not matter to him: “I don’t play for money, it’s very simple. Sure, $6 million is a lot of prize money, but I went to Riyadh because probably the six best players in the world were there, and you can measure yourself against them. It was also a lovely event; it was my first time in Riyadh, and it was very nice. When you return as a winner, for me, it was more like: ‘Okay, I played the matches correctly, and hopefully, this can help me improve as a player for the future,’” he stated in an interview with Eurosport.
These statements have surprised the tennis world since the amount of money involved seems too high for it not to matter. However, the Italian continues to share his version: “Of course, money is important, but not that much. I live a good life even without that money. It’s much more important to have the health I have, the family I have, and be surrounded by the right people. Money is simply a bonus,” said a Sinner who remains equally composed and impassive both on and off the court.
