Sinner bids for his first French Open title against defending champion Alcaraz

PARIS — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner has not yet dropped a set in his bid to win the French Open for the first time. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, his opponent in Sunday's final, has dropped four sets along the way.

Sinner has only been pushed to one tiebreaker — in Friday's semifinal win against Novak Djokovic — and is on a 20-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments, after winning the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

''Jannik, he's the best tennis player right now,'' the No. 2-ranked Alcaraz said. ''I mean, he's destroying every opponent through the semifinal.''

But Alcaraz has considerable factors in his favor.

He has a 21-1 record on clay this year, winning titles on the dirt in Rome — beating Sinner in the final after the Italian returned from his doping ban — and Monte Carlo.

Alcaraz also has won the past four matches against Sinner, leads him 7-4 overall, and has won more majors — 4-3 — despite being one year younger at 22. He has also played in a French Open final before, which Sinner has not.

Djokovic, who owns a men's-record 24 major titles and 100 in total, has faced and beaten the greatest players of his era.

But he felt the relentless aggression of Sinner's forehand and booming power of his serve during his straight-set defeat on Friday — his fourth straight loss to Sinner.

Djokovic has also lost in two Wimbledon finals to Alcaraz, who displays shot-making wizardry from anywhere on the court, and sometimes hits even harder than Sinner does.

So Djokovic knows just how difficult it is to cope against both players, saying "these kind of guys, like Sinner and Alcaraz, they're constantly on you and basically increase the pressure as the match progresses.''

Djokovic added: ''When the opportunities are presented, they're very rare, so it makes you a little more anxious.''

Big picture for Sinner

Sinner said the key to his victory against Djokovic, who pushed him hard in the third set on Friday, was staying calm and, somehow, managing to have enough focus amid the onslaught of Djokovic's attacks to still see the big picture.

''It's important to take your time. It's important to understand the moments of the match, which I think I made very good,'' he said. ''The mental part was in a good spot.''

That's where he maybe has the edge over Alcaraz.

The jovial Spaniard, who loves to entertain the crowd, has looked the more nervous player at Roland-Garros so far. At times he struggled against eighth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in their semifinal, which Alcaraz won in four sets after the Italian retired with a leg injury.

But he's ''not worried'' about dropping a few sets.

''Because I know that I have time and I'm strong mentally enough to come back,'' Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz proved that in last year's French Open final, when he came back from 2-1 down in sets to beat Alexander Zverev, another big server like Sinner.

The hallmarks of his comeback in that match were down-the-line, forehand winners mixed with remarkable drop shots launched from anywhere.

Big win for tennis fans

Sinner is serving better than Alcaraz, however, and also showed his deft touch with a majestic flick-of-the-wrist drop shot that mesmerized even Djokovic.

''It's going to be a really great Sunday,'' Alcaraz said. ''For the fans of tennis.''

The result will see either Alcaraz pulling away to a 5-3 lead in major titles, or Sinner equalizing on 4-4. A new tennis rivalry to match the glorious three-way battle for supremacy between Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?

''At the moment, that's kind of hard, because they need to play against each for at least 10-plus years nonstop in order to be part of the same discussion,'' the 38-year-old Djokovic said Friday, laughing. ''But they're definitely great for tennis, both of them. I think their rivalry is something that our sport needs, no doubt. I'm sure that we're going to see them lifting the big trophies quite often.'' ___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis