Patrick McEnroe on Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner: Why Carlos steals the spotlight

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

McEnroe gave his thoughts on both players during an appearance on the Spout Podcast but had particularly high praise for Alcaraz, comparing him to a blend of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

The former French Open doubles champion also likened Alcaraz to a Broadway star, saying that his personality and style make him more appealing than Sinner, who he described as having a similar demeanor to Bjorn Borg.

“Well Alcaraz you’ve got to put at the top of the list, now he’s got considerably more majors than Sinner,” said McEnroe. “But the way he plays, he plays with such joy, he plays with an incredible variety of shots. You know, he hits shots that we didn’t even think were possible and he does them with regularity.

“I mean Federer obviously had the beauty and the slice and could come to the net, this guy has got the explosiveness of Nadal, the speed of Djokovic and the shot making ability of Federer, all rolled into one.

“I do this at our tennis academy, before I left for Australia I said who’s going to win it and some of the kids say Sinner, but most of them say they love Alcaraz, because of his personality. You know, you asked me earlier about my brother [John McEnroe], do we need more personality? This guy loves to be on the tennis court, he loves to play the game.

“During the final of the Australian Open that just happened, he lost the first set to Djokovic and my brother and I, and Chris Fowler, are sat in the commentary booth and we look up, we call it the bunker, and the players can see us when they go to get the towel. Every match, Alcaraz would look up at my brother and laugh, and now he was losing the final and he wasn’t playing that well. He kind of looked over at us and he’s like ‘Yep’.

“The point I’m making is that even when he was down in one of the biggest matches of his career, you know the final of a major, he still has the wherewithal to communicate with us, the crowd and the people there. He’s like a showman, a Broadway star and an incredible athlete all rolled into one…It’s fun, he’s bringing a lot of kids into the game which is important.

“Sinner’s a great player, but he’s a little more mechanical in the way he plays. His personality is different, you know Bjorn Borg was quiet, when he used to play against my brother he would be very stoic. You have to be who you are.

“I find that tennis players, their game often models in a way their personality. Are they outgoing, do they go for their shots, do they come to the net? Sinner’s a little bit more of a reserved guy off the court, but he couldn’t be nicer and he couldn’t be classier.

“He’s trying to develop his game so he can continue to compete with Alcaraz tournament in and tournament out. But this guy is awesome too, he has won four majors already. He has taken the ball-striking ability off the ground to another level, he just doesn’t quite have as much variety of shot as Alcaraz. But boy, he hits the ball as well off the ground strokes as I have ever seen!”

Social Media Numbers Show Alcaraz Ahead of Sinner

McEnroe’s view that Carlos Alcaraz is more popular than Jannik Sinner has some backing when you look at their social media presence.

Alcaraz boasts more than three million additional Instagram followers compared to Sinner, and his numbers are higher across X, Facebook, and TikTok as well.

In total, Alcaraz has 6,365,400 more followers than Sinner across the major platforms.

Sinner doesn’t seem too concerned by the numbers, though. He’s currently on a 17-match winning streak and playing some of the best tennis of his career.

The French Open is next up for both players. But Alcaraz has hit a setback after picking up a wrist injury that forced him to pull out of the Barcelona Open.

Read more:

• Novak Djokovic pulls off a remarkable year — Here’s why
• Dominic Thiem picks the rising star that impressed him most at 16: Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner?
• Carlos Alcaraz’s serve wobble exposed by Jannik Sinner, Rennae Stubbs warns