French Open 2024: Jannik Sinner v Carlos Alcaraz is a rivalry tennis needs post-Big Three era – Mats Wilander – Eurosport

Eurosport tennis expert Mats Wilander believes the hotly-anticipated French Open semi-final clash between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz is exactly what the tournament needs.

The pair will meet in the last four at Roland-Garros on Thursday.

It will be the ninth time they have met in a ranking event, with the previous eight clashes yielding four wins apiece.

And Wilander believes the burgeoning rivalry is one to savour for years to come.

“I think it’s absolutely, massively important,” he told Eurosport.

“Actually, I had a chat with the Australian legend Lleyton Hewitt once and we were talking about, in a meeting with a few oldies, what’s going to happen to the game when [Roger] Federer and [Rafa] Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic [go].

“And he said ‘no, no. Nothing’s going to happen to the game. It’s not the stars that we need. We need rivalries. Rivalries is what keeps the sport alive.’

“And do you know what? I think he’s right. Rivalries is what it’s all about.”

Sinner, on the other hand, eased past Chris Eubanks, Richard Gasquet, Pavel Kotov and Corentin Moutet to reach the last eight, where he defeated Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets.

He is now preparing to take on Alcaraz for the third time in a Grand Slam, having beaten the Spaniard at Wimbledon in 2022, before losing their US Open quarter-final in the same year.

Their last four head-to-heads have all been last-four battles, most recently at Indian Wells in March, which Alcaraz won 1-6 6-3 6-2.