Four years after his first performance, when he had made life difficult for Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, Jannik Sinner (22) is definitely a reality, the sharpest tennis player of the moment.
That's what the reporter was thinking while watching the first set of the Indian Wells semifinal.
Error.
The sharpest tennis player of the moment is once again Carlos Alcaraz (20), the 2023 champion in the Californian desert, whose title he will defend in the final that will face the winner of the Medvedev-Tommy Paul that was played at the close of this edition.
Sinner had chained 16 consecutive victories in 2024, no one at his age had recorded such a figure, and in colossal form he appeared in his revival against Alcaraz, eight duels already add up after this one (4-4), here goes a classic, the wise men take notes: they already evoke the Federer-Nadal and the Borg-McEnroe.
The slow combustion of Sinner torments the dizzying Alcaraz, who wants to go fast and before the rain break (three hours in the chamber, resetting) he finds himself on the ropes. The Italian was 2-1 up, managing all the tempos and, hieratic in his stance, one would say robotic, he entangled the Murcian.
"Play calmly, give yourself time," Juan Carlos Ferrero tells his pupil, Alcaraz, but nothing.
The Murcian loses his senses and in a flash gives up another four games and the first round.
How ugly this Indian Wells looks then, no matter how much Charlize Theron appears in the VIP box, because Alcaraz must retire to the corner to think.
Not bad, that's thinking.
Thinking and thinking, Alcaraz finds solutions, understands the keys of the game. It is in his best interest to temper himself, to stop hitting hard - Sinner is like a boomerang: the harder you hit him, the harder he hits you back - he interprets the mechanisms, assumes that Sinner cannot continue playing at that level all the time, and the semi-final enters a new dimension.
Wonderful plays happen while the balance stabilizes.
The game gets busy.
At times, Sinner seems to be enjoying his own show. After a superb exchange, we see him smile, this guy smiles!
The smile does not save him. Alcaraz raises the level, now he not only lengthens the rallies, he also plays around, brings out his usual resources, the drop shots, the volleys, and at 1h21m (break time aside) he takes over the second round.
At this point, Sinner is already entangled.
Alcaraz takes another step back on the court, his blows come softly to the Italian, whose solvency is fading. With problems in his calf, with scratches on his wrist and elbow due to several falls (Alcaraz makes him run back and forth), the Italian melts and resigns. He will not be able to win this title, nor will he be able to assault number 2 on the ATP circuit.
Both privileges remain in the hands of Alcaraz, the talent who can handle all versions of all rivals, Sinner included.
