Miami Open, Miami, FL, 2023 - ATP Masters 1000

[Moxie]

There it is...great win for Sinner. Hopefully he turns the tables on Medvedev, too.

 

[kskate2]

Jannik exacts revenge from 2 weeks ago. Lesson learned for Charlie in this match.

 

[kskate2]

There it is...great win for Sinner. Hopefully he turns the tables on Medvedev, too.

That one will be harder. He's got no belief there and Meddy will be looking for a title after that beatdown he received from Charlie last week.

 

[Fiero425]

Jannik exacts revenge from 2 weeks ago. Lesson learned for Charlie in this match.

Sinner assisted Novak in getting his #1 ranking back! It was a joke the US is keeping him out at this stage of C-19! What's a couple wks.?

 

[Moxie]

That one will be harder. He's got no belief there and Meddy will be looking for a title after that beatdown he received from Charlie last week.

I don't see why it would be harder. He beat Alcaraz, plus he's the kid coming up. Medvedev is the one with all to prove, as you basically said above. And he can be a bit of a delicate flower. Sinner might just be ready to take the next step. I hope so.

 

[tossip]

I like Sinner and Alcaraz,that's the future of men tennis.I think Sinner will lose to Medvedev...

 

[kskate2]

I don't see why it would be harder. He beat Alcaraz, plus he's the kid coming up. Medvedev is the one with all to prove, as you basically said above. And he can be a bit of a delicate flower. Sinner might just be ready to take the next step. I hope so.

I don't understand why you can't see. It's harder to defeat someone you don't have a win against. He had belief against Charlie from previous wins. He also had MP at the Open.

 

[Moxie]

I do think that the best candidate for next new big title winner is Jannik Sinner.

So, maybe Sinner becomes the next big title winner on Sunday.

That said, not sure he can get past the steamroller that is Alcaraz. If the kid wins this tournament, I think we can officially declare the beginning of the Alcaraz Era - he seems to be in that zone of "I can beat anyone," which we haven't really seen recently outside of the Big Three and, for moments, with Andy Murray (in late 2016) and Stan sorta.

Alcaraz didn't win tonight, but I do think we're approaching an era with Alcaraz at the top. He's still 19, and he has the skills, the imagination, the crowd, the charisma, and the self-belief to beat most people on any given day.

What I think he needs to do to solidify his reign is beat Rafa at Roland Garros and Novak at a Slam, whether RG or USO (unlikely at Wimbledon). I know he's beaten both (at Madrid last year) but not on Slams.

There may not be time for this. Do remember how many years that Rafa and Roger coincided, and never played once at the USO. Carlos has a big resume point: he beat Rafa and Novak back-to-back in Madrid. He may not get to meet them much again. He doesn't need beating them at majors to solidify his legacy. However, if they do meet at a Major, it would help his legacy that he beat them.

 

[Moxie]

I don't understand why you can't see. It's harder to defeat someone you don't have a win against. He had belief against Charlie from previous wins. He also had MP at the Open.

I can see what you're saying, but the match hasn't been played yet. And Sinner is young. We can all make our arguments for how the match "ought" to go, or predict as we will. I'm just saying that Sinner has more than a punter's chance. He's in the final, and that's a chance. It's not like Ruud in the RG final v. Rafa, or anything.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Win or lose Alcaraz is winning a slam this year..

Not if Rafa and Novak are healthy

 

[rafanoy1992]

Jannik Sinner man! No words on how I am excited for him. Time to get your maiden M1000 title, Sinner Man!

Also, Sinner is the first and only male player so far to beat Alcaraz on HC, Clay, and Grass!

Not too shabby for Jannik!

Forza!

 

[Jelenafan]

Well this is Sinner's 2nd time at the rodeo.

He reached the 2021 Miami Open finals and lost to Hukacz in two close sets.

 

[kskate2]

Jannik Sinner man! No words on how I am excited for him. Time to get your maiden M1000 title, Sinner Man!

Also, Sinner is the first and only male player so far to beat Alcaraz on HC, Clay, and Grass!

Not too shabby for Jannik!

Forza!

It's a good thing he wasn't reliant on you watching for him to get this win. You abandoned him before the match was over.

 

[Moxie]

Jannik Sinner man! No words on how I am excited for him. Time to get your maiden M1000 title, Sinner Man!

Also, Sinner is the first and only male player so far to beat Alcaraz on HC, Clay, and Grass!

Not too shabby for Jannik!

Forza!

Did not know that about him beating Alcaraz on HC, clay and grass. Time to put the neigh-sayers aside. Forza, Jannick!

Well this is Sinner's 2nd time at the rodeo.

He reached the 2021 Miami Open finals and lost to Hukacz in two close sets.

And if I might point out, that was 2 years ago. He's stronger and better.

 

[Jelenafan]

So is youth finally served?

Win or lose the final for Sinner, we have two teenagers (Alcaraz & Rune) and one 21 year old (Sinner) in the top 10. It's been awhile since we've seen a similar stat to that in the ATP.

 

[rafanoy1992]

Removing the mental fortitude and physical attributes aside, here my thoughts on why Sinner will be a difficult matchup for Alcaraz for the rest of his career:

1. Backhand: Sinner's backhand is just an A+ level shot/wing. The crazy thing is that his backhand does well on ALL surfaces. If there is one shot that you can attack Alcaraz it will be his backhand. Alcaraz's backhand is not a weak shot AT ALL, but he can make more errors in that wing than his forehand. This is where Sinner can pounce him. Sinner can use his backhand aggressively and he can use his backhand on the run flawlessly. In addition, he can use a pinpoint BHDTL that would force Alcaraz to run his FH on the other side of the court. And let's not forget that Sinner's backhand on the return is absolutely lethal! If you don't hit a great serve on his backhand, Sinner will pounce that ball!

2. Return of serve: You could argue that this shot is number one. Seriously though, Sinner is a GREAT returner. Alcaraz is a very good server and a clutch server, but Sinner is a robot when it comes to returning serve. Just tonight alone, Sinner won 45% return points from Alcaraz's serve! That's just insane to think about! During this run by Alcaraz, he has barely lost serve, however, Sinner is making him fight for most of his service games. And that's why Alcaraz sometimes rushes on his service games because he knows that if he does not play well, Sinner will break his serve.

3. Self-belief in a micro-sense: What I mean by this is that Sinner will never be intimidated by Alcaraz's game or aura. In fact, he will always relishes his match-up against Alcaraz. That's why every match will be different between these two because they relishes their epic battles. The one thing that gets Sinner is the self-belief in winning the whole match (I called it the macro-sense belief). He will always play hard against Alcaraz every game and/or match, but what will get Sinner is that belief on winning against him when he has the scoreboard edge. It got him at the US Open and it got him today in the 1st set. Hopefully, the more Sinner wins matches, the more he believes he can win matches against the Top players. Tonight is a GREAT step towards that...

 

[El Dude]

So, maybe Sinner becomes the next big title winner on Sunday.

Alcaraz didn't win tonight, but I do think we're approaching an era with Alcaraz at the top. He's still 19, and he has the skills, the imagination, the crowd, the charisma, and the self-belief to beat most people on any given day.

There may not be time for this. Do remember how many years that Rafa and Roger coincided, and never played once at the USO. Carlos has a big resume point: he beat Rafa and Novak back-to-back in Madrid. He may not get to meet them much again. He doesn't need beating them at majors to solidify his legacy. However, if they do meet at a Major, it would help his legacy that he beat them.

Good point. And yes, that double defeat of the Big Two at Madrid was glorious and may be all that is "needed."

Anyhow, nice to see Sinner win - hope he beats Daniil and joins the big boy's table.

 

[Kieran]

Sinner assisted Novak in getting his #1 ranking back! It was a joke the US is keeping him out at this stage of C-19! What's a couple wks.?

Be glad that Carlos couldn’t play Australia, buddy, and the WTF. You Djokolytes always complain about the events that he chose to skip, but overlook that other players miss events too, and they have no choice in it.

This is a great result for Sinner, and for tennis maybe, but I think it’s a pity too. But the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry is shaping up nicely, which is great…

 

[Kieran]

Just watched the highlights. Seemed like it was shaping up to be an epic until Carlos faded at 4-all in the second, losing 8 of the next 10 games. That can happen, it’s a game of momentum, but some of the points were exceptional…

 

[the AntiPusher]

Did not know that about him beating Alcaraz on HC, clay and grass. Time to put the neigh-sayers aside. Forza, Jannick!

And if I might point out, that was 2 years ago. He's stronger and better.

That's Cahill architecting a proper strategy to take out Alcaraz