Masters Cup 2025: Alcaraz seeks the key to the enigma: how to perform Sinner indoors and at home? “I can do it” | Tennis

Carlos Alcaraz is in a hurry, there is no time to waste. Wrapped in the same clothes in which he competed in the semi-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime and with his heart rate still skyrocketing, the Murcian assists journalists in the mixed area of the Inalpi Arena and analyses: How? “If I want to beat him, I have to implement my plan A.” And what is this plan? Basically, embroider it one more time. This is the question of the last meeting with Jannik Sinner, this Sunday mid-afternoon (6pm, Movistar+). The Italian waits in his lair, with his people and scythe in hand. Perfectly sharp. “I would say he’s the favourite,” he tells the Murcian. “But I know I can do it,” he adds. This is the attitude.

The fact is that the Spaniard faces a huge challenge, since, in his own words, “beating Jannik indoor (indoor) is one of the most difficult challenges in tennis at the moment.” And so it is, more or less at the peak of the feat necessary to win on clay against Alcaraz himself, who would like, he underlines, to join that stagnant list that does not move and is practically empty. Two courageous winners: Manolo Orantes, in 76, and Àlex Corretja in 98. From then on, unsuccessful attempts by Rafael Nadal himself and twice by him. In 2023 falls in the semifinals, the following year in the initial round. This will be his first masters final.

It’s about beating Sinner in his ideal context, launched – he hasn’t lost since the Turin final two years ago and boasts a string of 30 victories – and supported by his team. He too was born in the mountains, not too far from Turin. “But I hope there are at least three or four people who encourage me…” jokes the man from El Palmar after an exceptional performance against Auger-Aliassime, with two errors in the first set and ten in total. Excellent letter of introduction in a duel that involves many difficulties. “That means I didn’t go crazy and was aggressive when I should have,” he appreciates. He adds: “I played really well. I felt great from the start.”

SPANISH FINALISTS (MEN)	YEAR	MARKER	RIVAL
Manolo Orantes		1976	6-4, 1-6 and 6-4
Wojciech Fibak	Alex Corretja		1998
3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 and 7-5	Carlos Moia	Juan Carlos Ferrero	2002
7-5, 7-5, 2-6, 2-6 and 6-4	Lleyton Hewitt	David Ferrer	2007
6-2, 6-3 and 6-2	Roger Federer	Raphael Nadal	2010
6-3, 3-6 and 6-1	Roger Federer	Raphael Nadal	2013

6-3 and 6-4

Novak Djokovic

Light before the battle, what a great need it will be. The local player has not surrendered a single set or a single serve in the previous four matches, and plays on a surface that suits his game like a glove: fast enough for his ball to acquire that unparalleled rhythm, and slow enough to not suffer scares or be overwhelmed by herculean arms like those of Alcaraz. “Favorite? I don’t want to believe it, but I’d say Jannik, I guess,” he says in English. And he will then explain in Spanish: “I would say him because of the record he has and because we play at his home.” But he specifies: “I’m ready for the challenge. We’ll see what happens.”

Hostility and reverse

He separates what could happen in the final from what happened in pre-tournament training, when they both tried and the Frenchman beat him “easily”. Because, he underlines, “the sensation between one thing and another is totally different”. So what should Alcaraz do? Propose a radical approach, without half measures? Maybe take refuge in the rear and gather? Definitely neither one nor the other. Probably the same as almost always. Audacity and imagination in power. Stay at the base and identify the emotionally hot spots in the game. He knows that Sinner respects him a lot and that generally, on the days of truth, he multiplies. There are experiences.The accountant says that Spanish prevails in global terms (10-5), in the final (5-2) and also in the specific calculation of this course (4-1). And despite strictly respecting the format, Alcaraz won both times that both met indoors, both in Bercy (2021) and, by circumstance, at the outcome of the last US Open, when rain threatened and the organization closed it from the start. But Sinner is Sinner and Italy is very Italy. Warm and patriotic stands. The 13 thousand souls who will gather in Sevastopol will propose a hostile scenario, even if they know the opposite: if mistreated, number one usually grows.

Sinner enters the pitch at the Inalpi Arena in Turin.

ALESSANDRO DI MARCO (EFE)

“We play in front of their audience,” he points out. “So it’s normal for people to support their player, especially for Jannik, who has done so much for his country and his people. It’s normal for them to give it back to him when he’s here. Obviously they play. They play an important role, because he can grow, if he takes advantage of it he can help him. Maybe I can make mistakes. Let’s try not to do that. We have to put everything on the table. So we’ll try to focus on ourselves. We’ll move forward.” try to think that there is no one on the field. Tomorrow we will give everything to be as focused as possible”, explains Alcaraz, a tennis player who is well. It will go better or worse, but it won’t be out of cowardice.

He rarely doesn’t try to come forward. “I think that every time we face each other we raise our level to the maximum,” he slips, knowing that this invisible factor is there, and that the Italian fears that it could be unleashed, as already happened at Roland Garros – the memorable comeback in the longest epilogue in the history of the great Frenchman (5h 29m) – and at the US Open – that day, indisputable. “Obviously I know I can beat him. In the end, if I thought I was going to lose, I wouldn’t even go on the pitch. I wouldn’t be physical, I wouldn’t play at all… I know what I’m capable of on the pitch, the level I showed today. I know I could even beat him. And I know it will be complicated, but it’s nice to face him”, concludes Alcaraz.

THE HEIR OF DJOKOVIC

CA | Turin Before Alcaraz shared his impressions, Auger-Aliassime referred to the tour leader’s game and responded categorically: “He presses you differently, you don’t know what to expect. He plays at a breakneck speed.” The North American, starting tomorrow fifth in the world, was referring to that characteristic and exclusive unpredictability.This is precisely what worries Sinner (24) and all the players so much. You never know where the Spaniard (22), a multi-layered tennis player, will end up. This is what Italian, hitherto an open book, aspires to; From the foul line there is no competitor like him. Not even in the frame

indoor

which he made his own since Novak Djokovic refused.

“I feel very comfortable. I think it suits my game better, because I play quite flat and have a good rhythm, which gives me confidence to continue looking for shots and change direction more easily,” explains Sinner, who also referred after beating Alex de Miñaur (7-5 and 6-2) to a potential reunion with Alcaraz.

“Every match is different. We saw it in Rome and Paris. Even on the same surface everything can change,” he said. “I’m very happy to finish the season here, with another final. It’s been an incredible year for me and I can’t wait for tomorrow. They are matches that I love and at the same time they help me understand what my true level is”, concluded the redhead, looking for her sixth trophy in her tenth final of 2025. The Galician Martín de la Puente was instead proclaimed yesterday doubles champion in the wheelchair category. He (26) and his partner Ruben Spargaaren, with whom he already won Wimbledon in July, beat the English Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid 6-4, 1-6 and 14-12. It is his third master’s degree after those obtained in 2022 and 2024, and completes a historic journey.