Novak Djokovic is through to the 3rd round of the French Open, and he did well matching both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in the result. All three are now slightly closer to their goal, which is to win the event.
But how do they compare with each other when it comes to how each played? We’re going to take a closer look and break down who looked the best and who likely has more to be excited about in the coming days. We’re going to start with Novak Djokovic and how he fared against Corentin Moutet.
Djokovic Keeps It in Three
Trending
Facing Moutet also is no easy task at the French Open. Jannik Sinner lost a set against him last year, which shows how good the French player can be. Djokovic himself nearly lost a set against him, but he kept his cool and saved the set point.
Overall, it was a very decent win for Djokovic. He hit his first serve 65% of the time, along with five aces and only two double faults. He won 73% of the points behind his first serve, but also only 51% behind his second serve.
These numbers are not elite, but they were good enough to win the match, which is the important bit. He had 44 winners and 33 unforced errors, which are again very solid numbers. Overall, it was decent from Djokovic, but it was not elite and therein lies the issues for the Serbian.
He’s good enough to win these matches, but the numbers don’t warrant confidence against the tennis elite, which is where he tended to struggle in the past years. That being said, his main rivals didn’t really shine all that bright either, which might just be because it’s early in the event.
Neither of them is pushing their hardest right now; they are conserving energy and simply doing what they need to do to win the match.
How Does Djokovic Fare Against Sinner and Alcaraz?
Sinner faced Richard Gasquet, who is a veteran and a player who is essentially retiring this year. That kind of tells you all you need to know because even if you agree that he can still play well, which is true, he’s far from a player who will trouble the number-one seed at a Grand Slam.
And he didn’t. Sinner cruised easily in this match, winning in three sets. He won the first one 6-3, the second 6-0 and the final one 6-4. He commanded play easily, serving well, dominating on his serve and hitting many winners. What was interesting is that he didn’t really play all too aggressively.
He didn’t need to, but it’s something he would need to do against Djokovic and Alcaraz. Overall, it was a really strong display from Sinner. Alcaraz had a bit more trouble as he dropped a set against Fabian Marozsan. Outside of dropping that set, Alcaraz dominated the Hungarian, winning the other three sets 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
He served well, he was super aggressive and demonstrated a similar level to that in Rome, which was good enough to beat Sinner in a final in front of the Italian’s home crowd.
So How Do They Stack Up Against Each Other?
Well, it’s difficult to say because these things are hard to quantify. Djokovic has been looking better than ever this year, which is very good for him. Sinner is doing his methodical dismantling of opponents, though he hasn’t really wowed anybody with his level. He generally tends to beat you with consistency.
Carlos Alcaraz has looked the best because he was not only aggressive but also impressively precise with it. As things stand, Alcaraz has looked the best because he not only played the best out of the three, he dominated his opponent the most.
Ultimately, this comparison, this early in the event, doesn’t really matter. The most important one will be on the day either of these players faces the other one. That will be the true barometer of where they stand.
Even so, all have looked good so far, with Alcaraz clearly a cut above. Djokovic has a tendency to raise his level as the event goes on, so we’ll surely see that. Sinner will likely do the same as he’s only been playing for a while. As for Alcaraz, can he remain healthy and not complicate things as he did against Marozsan? Time will tell.
How did Novak Djokovic meet Jelena Ristic? All about the most admired couples in tennis
