Bublik also agrees to "help" Jannik Sinner

Alexander Bublik Jannik Sinner’s best ally? The Kazakh by beating Carlos Alcaraz could give the Blue the number one spot in the ATP rankings, and at the same time he would re-enter the Top 10 in the world rankings. The Murcia champion and the Kazakh have never met in an official match. The Spaniard himself recalled, “We have only trained together once, so this will be our first real challenge in a tournament. It will be fun, we will see which of the two has the more effective short ball.”

The match will also be of great importance for the ATP rankings of both. Alcaraz is forced to keep winning to defend the first position and maintain the gap on Jannik Sinner. Bublik, for his part, with a win would return to the top ten players in the world. The quarterfinal between the Spaniard and the Kazakh is the third match scheduled for Friday, April 10, on Court Rainier III, the Monte Carlo Country Club’s center court. It will be played after the Fonseca-Zverev and Sinner-Auger-Aliassime matches.

Whoever emerges victorious will face the best of Monegasque Valentin Vacherot and Australian Alex de Minaur, No. 6 in the rankings, in the semifinals. For Alcaraz, the stakes on the ranking front are particularly high. He candidly admitted during this tournament that he has a lot of points to defend on clay: “I don’t know if overtaking will come here or in the next tournament. I have many points to protect and it will not be easy to confirm all of them. Even if I succeed, Jannik will still gain some. In any case, number one is not something I’m obsessed with.”

The Murcian is fully aware of the delicate situation: in fact, Sinner could take back the top of the ranking as early as Monte Carlo, either by winning the tournament or reaching the final in case Alcaraz exits prematurely.