Final against Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz fears return of nightmare

The fear is that of living a nightmare again.

Carlos Alcaraz will play the final of the ATP 250 tournament in Umag on Sunday against Jannik Sinner after a three-hour semifinal against Giulio Zeppieri. And the Murcia outfielder is not hiding a hint of apprehension.

“I managed to beat Zeppieri, but with the Italians I still have nightmares. Not surprisingly, it was very complicated to win against Giulio. Now in the final I will find another Italian, my hope is to abandon this nightmare once and for all,” he says in fact between the serious and the facetious in view of the clash with Sinner. During 2022, Alcaraz lost only six times: three of them were against opponents from our country.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played such a difficult match in Umag in two years,” Alcaraz added, speaking of Zeppieri. “I failed to serve as well as I could, and even at the tactical level I missed something. The ankle injury? I didn’t realize while playing that the sprain was so bad. For now, though, it doesn’t seem to hurt, so I hope it stays that way.”