"When Jannik Sinner doesn’t play well, he’s right away boring...Carlos Alcaraz still fails gloriously": Andrea Petkovic on fans 'flocking' to Spaniard
Andrea Petkovic has shared her perspective on why people tend to gravitate more towards Carlos Alcaraz than Jannik Sinner. Petkovic opined that the Spaniard's comparatively flashier game contributed to his greater popularity among fans.
Sinner recently clinched his second Grand Slam title at the 2024 US Open, claiming a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win over Taylor Fritz in the final. Alcaraz, meanwhile, crashed out of the New York Major in the second round, suffering a shock straight sets loss to Botic van de Zandschulp.
Sinner and Fritz's title clash averaged 1.8 million viewers on ESPN, recording a 31% drop compared to Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev's encounter in last year's final. It also registered a marked decline from Medvedev's win over Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals last year, which drew 2.26 million viewers.
On the latest episode of the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Andrea Petkovic posited that when Jannik Sinner wasn't performing at his best, as seen at the start of the US Open, his game came across as "boring." In contrast, Petkovic suggested that Carlos Alcaraz even failed in "glorious" fashion, causing people to "flock" to him more.
"Why people flock to Carlos more. When Jannik doesn’t play well, as he didn’t the first week, he’s right away boring. Because he just plays it solid and the other one will eventually miss, then it’s boring. But when he plays well, he’s the most spectacular player in the world," Petkovic said.
"And Carlos, when he fails, he still fails gloriously and I think that’s why people… the chaos is interesting to watch. I think that’s the difference between the two," she added.
"For anybody who finds Jannik Sinner's tennis boring, I urge you to see him live" - Andrea Petkovic
Interestingly, Andrea Petkovic recently also pushed back against the claim that Jannik Sinner's playing style is "boring," emphasizing that watching him compete live was a "thing of beauty."
"For anybody who finds his [Sinner's] tennis boring, I would urge you to try and see him live if you can. The way he moves, always in perfect balance, the way his body is leaned slightly forward as if going down a slope on skis, is a thing of beauty. No matter how hard you hit at him, he never falls out of his equilibrium," Petkovic wrote in her blog Finite Jest (via Substack).
The German highlighted the World No. 1's "astonishing" ability to maintain his hard-hitting tennis in crucial moments when even Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic would take some pace off in such situations.
"Something you can’t really see on TV is the astonishing fact that Jannik hits the ball even harder, even more decisively, when the biggest moment of the match comes around. Even Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal would sometimes take some of the pace off to make more balls when crunch time is on. Not so Jannik Sinner," she added.
Petkovic also expressed her belief that Jannik Sinner had discovered the "secret recipe" to striking the right balance between staying relaxed and maintaining his focus during matches.