Carlos Alcaraz rubbishes Jannik Sinner theory ahead of blockbuster Wimbledon grudge match

Carlos Alcaraz has shut down suggestions that he will have the mental edge over Jannik Sinner when they meet in the Wimbledon final, exactly five weeks after he stormed back to beat the world No. 1 at Roland Garros. The Spaniardsaved three championship points in an epic five-hour and 29-minute final - and Sinner will now be out for revenge.

Alcaraz is looking for a hattrick of Wimbledon trophies and has not lost a match here since 2022, when Sinner got him in the quarter-final. And the second seed is already hoping that this match won't be as long as their last one.

Reflecting on their marathon French Open showdown, the 22-year-old said: "Well, I didn't watch again. Just a few clips, to be honest, few points, but not that much.

"But I still thinking about that moment, you know, sometimes. Yeah, probably the best... I mean, 'probably' no. It was the best match that I have ever played so far.

"I'm not surprised he just pushed me to the limit. I expect that on Sunday just to be in the limit, to be on the line. Yeah, just going to be a great day, a great final. I'm just excited about it."

But Alcaraz already has one wish for their second meeting at SW19. "So, I mean, I just hope not to be five hours and a half on court again. As I said, if I have to, I will. But I think it's going to be great," he smiled.

Alcaraz looked down and out when Sinner led by two sets to one and had three championship points in the fourth set of their match on his serve. The Spaniard held on and then broke when Sinner served for it. Alcaraz went on to win 4-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 7-6.

But the world No. 2 doesn't think he has an advantage just because he beat Sinner from a losing position. "Not at all, to be honest," he said.

"What Jannik has, because he learned from everything as a huge champion, from the loses, from the matches he's playing, he just get better after every match, after every day.

"I'm pretty sure he's going to take a lot of things from French Open final, that he's going to be better. He's being to be better physically, he's going to be better mentally. He's going to be prepared on Sunday to give his 100 per cent.

"I'm not thinking or I have advantage mentally Sunday because of that match."

It will be Alcaraz and Sinner's second Grand Slam final meeting, and their 13th overall. And the Spanish star is hoping they can build a Big Three-like rivalry.

"Well, yeah, I think the things that we are doing right now I think is great for tennis. We just fight for just engage more people to watch tennis. We're just fighting for the tennis to be bigger, as all the tennis players are doing," he explained.

"For me, yeah, it's sharing the big tournaments with Jannik, I think it is great or just playing in the finals of the tournaments and in final rounds of the tournament. I think it's great, or at least for me.

"We are still really young. So I just hope that a lot of things or just to keep doing the right things for, I don't know, the next, I don't know, 5, 10 years, just to be our rivalry to the same table as those players."

After beating Taylor Fritz in four sets in Friday's semi-final, Alcaraz is now one win away from his third straight Wimbledon crown. Sinner, meanwhile, has never made it this far at SW19. He took out seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the second semi-final.

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