Carlos Alcaraz might have had a stellar start to his ATP Finals journey. But his back and forth with the Italians does not seem to be stopping anytime soon. As the Spaniard rose to tennis glory, for a time it looked like he may go unchallenged on the tennis circuit. And then emerged Jannik Sinner as his kryptonite. While their rivalry has given tennis some of its best moments in the past few seasons, it appears the rivalry is spilling outside the court, and not in a good way. 

In a recent video doing the rounds on X, Alcaraz could be seen verbally attacked by a group of Italian fans ahead of the ATP Finals. The incident reportedly took place outside of his hotel in Turin. As per the explanation provided by Italian media personality Edoardo Vigilone on X, the fans called the Spaniard “stupid.” This happened before his opening match against Alex de Minaur. During the opening ceremony, all the players gathered around and then stayed back to take pictures. 

However, as Alcaraz was playing the opener, he decided to skip the session, which made the fans angry. Now, while such fan behavior isn’t encouraging, this certainly adds fuel to the fiery rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner. And with the Spaniard already winning his opening match, he will now look to set the record straight following a series of losses and early exits from tournaments in the last quarter of the season. The duo had their first face-off this year back in May in the Italian Open final. Despite a fantastic battle in the first set, Sinner fell 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Since then, it has been Alcaraz all the way except Wimbledon. While Sinner lost the initial set, he came back to dominate the next three, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Looking at their stats for the year, Sinner seems to be holding the edge with a 90% win percentage. He has also won 5 titles this year and will surely aim to get past Alcaraz and clinch the coveted ATP crown. Meanwhile, reflecting on their rivalry, Sinner recently shared his honest take. And it was quite a surprising one. 

Jannik Sinner doesn’t believe he can get past Carlos Alcaraz

Sinner is within handshaking distance of attaining a rare double. Finishing as the ATP Finals champion and also becoming the World No. 1. But in order to do that, he will have to overcome the towering challenge of Alcaraz. After the Shanghai Masters, the Spaniard almost cemented his No. 1 ranking.

But as Sinner won in Vienna and Paris, Alcaraz faced a shock exit from the French capital at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. This allowed Sinner to enter the ATP Finals in Turin as World No.1, with a slender 250 point lead over Alcaraz. 

However, while speaking about his chances this year, Sinner surprisingly kept things realistic. Instead of showing any signs of confidence, he admitted that in all probability, it would be impossible for him to topple the Spaniard. “Carlos’ early exit in Paris has opened up some scenarios. I’m following them, but I also know that if he plays well, there’s no chance for me to pass him, regardless of my results,” said Sinner. 

He further added, “Last year, I had a wonderful feeling lifting the ATP Finals trophy, and I would like to experience that again, regardless of the no. 1 ranking battle.  The key to playing good tennis is to be as free as possible,” Jannik Sinner said. Well, despite such an admission, this might be a tricky mental game Sinner is playing to keep his opponent under pressure. All in all, with the rivalry heating up, tennis fans are in for a rollercoaster of a ride ahead.