Boris Becker will be part of Sky Sports Italy’s team of commentators starting from the quarterfinals of the men’s singles next week.

interviewed by Federica Cocchi from the Gazzetta dello Sport, he said he was enthusiastic about a specific match  of this first week: 

“The match between Sinner and Berrettini was ‘a real’ match of excellent tennis. I was pleased to see that Matteo is once more competitive at last, but I didn’t have big worries about Jannik: he is confident like few others on the tour right now.”He said. 

“There is the eternal debate about the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ draws to me, as a player and then as a coach, it has always seemed a sterile discussion, it is the player who makes the draw a good draw. Personally, I always preferred to start with tougher opponents, because it prepared me mentally for the second week. I think Sinner’s victory with Berrettini has projected him fully into the tournament.” 

Becker, who won the Wimbledon title three times during the 1980s, goes on to explain the challenges of playing on grass are for players.

“Tennis on grass is a different sport from the tennis which is played on other surfaces,” explains the German, “the movements are much more complicated, I remember that the first few days I used to struggle to organise my footwork. The body has a different, lower position, the points are very fast and you have to be physically prepared and mentally reactive. If you drop your service on clay you still have the chance to regroup, if it happens to you on grass you have much fewer opportunities. Psychologically it is certainly the toughest surface to manage, you have to have a lot of confidence in your game and Sinner has it right now.” 

“I think Sinner is on the right track. He has been playing for months now at a very high level, and his greatest quality is consistency. If we consider the last period he has not yet played a “bad match”, let’s touch wood. On the one hand you can’t always win, but on the other he has always kept a very high level, more than any other player since the beginning of the year. This means that to beat him you have to do even better and that’s why this year he’s only lost a couple of matches.” 

Two of Sinner’s three defeats came at Indian Wells and Roland Garros to his friend, and seemingly lifelong rival, Carlos Alcaraz.

“We all have weaknesses, even Alcaraz! No, seriously, on the court he’s close to perfection, but sometimes he is a bit fluctuating in form while Sinner is more continuously consistent. When you see a match of Jannik today, you know exactly what to expect, with Carlos you don’t. Right now the Italian is mentally rock solid and this is evident on the court.” 

Carlos Alcaraz has matched a milestone achieved by his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero following his latest win at Wimbledon on Sunday.

The defending champion battled his way to a 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, win over France’s Ugo Humbert who was the first left-handed player he had faced in this year’s tournament. His latest display at The All England Club saw the Spaniard fire 44 winners against 33 unforced errors as he broke his rival six times. He has now won 15 matches at Wimbledon so far in his career against just two losses.

As the rain poured down onto the Center Court roof, Alcaraz was able to dictate play with the help of some thunderous hitting that put world No.16 Humbert under intense pressure. The Frenchman did produce glimmers of the tennis that have seen him score a trio of top 10 wins by breaking his rival four times in a row at one stage. However, that wasn’t enough to derail the third seed in what was their first tour-level meeting.

“Playing lefties is always tricky, no matter the surface.” Said Alcaraz.
“I played my first leftie at Queen’s so I learnt a little bit from that. I felt great playing today, I think I played a really high level and playing a leftie I tried not to think about it and just played my own game.”

Storming through the first set in a relatively comfortable fashion, Alcaraz’s first big test occurred during the early stages of the second frame. A marathon five-deuce service game saw him fend off a quartet of break points before holding to nudge ahead 3-2. Then at 5-4, he snatched the second set by displaying some sublime defensive skills during a lengthy rally where he slipped over midway through before a Humbert shot landed out.

“Unbelievable I guess,” Alcaraz said of that second set point. “I mean I just (laughs) I just tried to fight every ball, every point. Doesn’t matter which part of the court I am.
“I just try to run and give myself the chance to stay alive in the point. But even more important is like this one, set point is a really important point for me so I had to show the opponent that it doesn’t matter if he’s gonna shoot, that I’m gonna be there.
“That’s myself, fighting until the last ball. Sometimes it’s a pretty good point like this one, sometimes I lose it.”

There were still challenges for Alcaraz to overcome with him dropping serve for the first time in the third set and at one point he was shaking his right arm which was presumable due to tension. Meanwhile, Humbert capitalised on the opportunity to run away with the lead and out of nowhere took the fourth set. 

Despite the blip, Alcaraz edged his way to victory whilst being visibly frustrated with areas of his game. It is the sixth major tournament in a row where he has reached at least the last eight. 

“I just choose the shot when I am going to hit it. I don’t think about it beforehand.” He later commented about his game.
“I like the forehand drop shot, passing shot from the forehand or the lob tweener, that is my favourite shot so I try to find that in every match.”

Overall, it is the ninth time Alcaraz has reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam event which is the same amount as his mentor Ferrero reached throughout his career. However, he has a long way to go to beat the record held by a Spanish payer which is Rafael Nadal’s tally of 47. 

Alcaraz, who has won 30 matches so far this season, will next take on either Queen’s champion Tommy Paul or fellow countryman Roberto Bautista Agut.

Novak Djokovic believes best-of-five matches must remain a part of major events such as Wimbledon but he also thinks there should be a compromise too.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion spoke about the format following his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3),  win over Alexi Popryin on Saturday which moved him into the fourth round at The All England Club for the 16th time in his career. He has now won 50 matches at major events since turning 35. A milestone only previously achieved by Ken Rosewall and Roger Federer on the men’s Tour. 

Djokovic has played a staggering 51 five-set matches so far in his career and has won 40 of them. Out of that 40, eight have seen him win by coming back from two sets down. 

“Five-set matches, nowadays you can only see them in Grand Slams, right? That’s what I guess excites both players and the crowd. Most of the people love to see it. We as players like to play it. Maybe not that often.” Said Djokovic.
“I think they’re an important aspect of the history and of the future, as well, of the sport. I would support it, particularly in the latter stages of the Grand Slam.” He added.

Over the years, there has been a debate about whether to shorten matches to a best-of-three format. Supporters argue that they would ease the physical demand on players, help with tournament scheduling and TV broadcasting. On the other side of the argument, many say best-of-five is a pivotal part of Grand Slam history and it is popular with many fans. 

As for Djokovic, he believes it is possible to have the best of both worlds. 

“I think they should stay best-of-five. The only thing that I’m maybe thinking it could be good to consider is the opening rounds that could go best-of-three, and then you move into the hybrid of best-of-fives from the fourth rounds or quarters. That’s just me, my thinking.” He explained. 
“I think best-of-five, particularly in the last three or four rounds of a slam, you need to keep. But in terms of innovation in tennis, I think it’s necessary. 
“I think we have to figure out how to attract a young audience. I think tennis, on the one hand, is in a good place, but atthe same time when we look at Formula 1, for example, and what they have done in terms of marketing, in terms of growth of the sport, in terms of the races around the world and how popular they are, I think we need to do a better job on our respective tours. The Grand Slams are always going to do well.”

Besides the format, Djokovic has also called for more action to be taken to make tennis more accessible and increase the number of players who can make a living from the sport. He estimates the current number to be between 350 and 400. The Serbian is the co-founder of the PTPA which is an organisation that calls for players to have a greater say in the decision-making process in the sport. 

“I think collectively we all have to come together and understand how to maintain the sport’s foundation or create a new foundation, a cornerstone of really what tennis is about, which is the base level, right, the club level.” He commented.

“Now we have the paddle, that is growing and emerging. People kind of have fun with it and say, Yeah, but tennis is tennis. “Tennis is the king or queen of all the racquet sports.” That’s true but on a club level, tennis is endangered. If we don’t do something about it, paddle of pickleball in the United States, they’re going to convert all the tennis clubs into paddle and pickleball because it’s just more economical.”

Djokovic will return to action at Wimbledon on Monday when he plays Holger Rune for a place in the quarter-finals.