Evert's curious comparison between Seles and Alcaraz: "We would never know what would have happened"

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Jannik Sinner is the clear dominator of the ATP circuit. However, for Chris Evert, this is due to the wrist injury of Carlos Alcaraz, whom she has surprisingly compared to Monica Seles, drawing a parallel between the rivalry of the Italian and the Spanish tennis players with that of the American tennis player and Steffi Graf.

At the time, Seles was the greatest talent on the women's circuit, world number 1, with all expectations on her to become the best in history. However, in the middle of a match, she was stabbed by a fan of Steffi Graf and was never the same since. While nothing compares to that terrible situation, Evert believes that the absence of Alcaraz (similar to Seles' absence at that time) has benefited Sinner to break every possible record.

"Monica was the world number one in 1993 when she was stabbed: from then on, during her absence, Steffi took the power. A similar phenomenon has occurred with Jannik: he dominated without his main rival, the injured and unavailable Alcaraz. Until Roland Garros, he was untouchable, and I hope he will be the same on the grass of Wimbledon. In the five consecutive Masters 1000 he won, I saw his opponents intimidated, unable to challenge him," she stated in an interview with Tennis World Italia.

Evert reveals Sinner's biggest enemy

However, the first world number 1 in the history of the WTA ranking also had words of praise for Sinner, who has won all the Masters 1000 events held in 2026 to date and has proven that, both when Alcaraz has been in the circuit and when he hasn't, in these types of tournaments he is the best current tennis player. Yet, his physical condition remains a major question mark for the Grand Slams, a point she also emphasized.

"Sinner's worst enemy is himself: he must stay healthy and avoid performance dips. If he manages it, I believe that in ten years we will be talking about a truly extraordinary career. The problem for everyone else, when facing Jannik, is having to outdo themselves. Personally, I will never underestimate Novak," she concluded, highlighting the Serbian player as the only one capable of stopping him at this moment, as was the case at the Australian Open.

The big question when Alcaraz returns will be whether such a long period of inactivity has affected his game, and how he will manage to come back against players of the caliber of Sinner or Djokovic in the major tournaments. A wrist injury is very challenging, both physically and mentally, so he will need to work well on both aspects to return to what he was and break the dominance of the Italian player.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La curiosa comparativa de Evert entre Seles y Alcaraz: "Nunca sabríamos que habría pasado"