Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner in sold-out South Korea exhibition match
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Italy's Jannik Sinner (left) and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz are good friends off the court and it showed in Incheon.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
- Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner in a light-hearted exhibition match in South Korea, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), with both players focusing on entertaining the 12,000 fans.
- The match featured trick shots and interactions with the crowd, but Sinner and Alcaraz affirmed that the "main goal is in Australia" at the upcoming Australian Open.
- Both players now focus on the Australian Open, where Sinner aims for a third consecutive title, and Alcaraz seeks a career Grand Slam, his first Australian Open title.
AI generated
INCHEON, South Korea - Carlos Alcaraz beat great rival Jannik Sinner in a light-hearted sell-out exhibition match in South Korea on Jan 10 ahead of the Australian Open.
Eight days before the Melbourne Grand Slam and in their first appearances this year, the Spanish world number one won 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) in front of an enthusiastic 12,000 crowd in Incheon.
Neither will play competitively until the Australian Open, where Italy’s world number two Sinner is the defending two-time champion.
South Korean organisers have not said how much the two players earned, but reports in Italy suggest each could pocket more than US$2 million (S$2.5 million) for the match that lasted one hour and 47 minutes.
It was not always entirely serious, the smiling duo treating a packed house to some trick shots between their legs, drawing cheers, and reacting to calls from the crowd by making heart gestures.
“Jannik, we finished the season playing together. We started the season playing together,” Alcaraz said on court afterwards.
“So, hopefully, this season is going to be such a good one like last year. You deserve the best.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have taken a stranglehold on men’s tennis over the past two years, splitting all four Grand Slam titles between them in 2024 and 2025.
“It was a close match so a little bit of tension also,” said Sinner. “We were just happy to be here for the first time, seeing something new. It made us feel at home and we felt it on the court.”
Arch competitors on the court but good friends off it, Alcaraz has the upper hand in their rivalry and came into the exhibition boasting a 10-6 head-to-head record.
They will be the favourites when the Australian Open starts in Melbourne on Jan 18, when the serious work begins.
Alcaraz, who at 22 is two years younger than Sinner, has never gone beyond the quarter-finals at the first Grand Slam of the year and it is the only major he has failed to win. AFP
