Sinner Alcaraz nearing Big Four levels of Top 10 dominance

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a have quickly established themselves at the top of the sport, and a big reason why is because of their performance against the best players in the world./ppEntering the season, only four players since 2000 had earned at least 13 wins against opponents inside the worldrsquo;s Top 10 in a single season. They are the legendary lsquo;Big Fourrsquo; of a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'Novak Djokovic/a (10x), a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/a (10x), a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview'Rafael Nadal/a (4x) and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-murray/mc10/overview'Andy Murray/a (3x)./ppSinner has joined the elite group by earning 14 Top 10 victories entering the final match of round-robin play at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a. Alcaraz is one triumph away from adding his name to the exclusive list with a round-robin clash to go on Friday against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a./ppldquo;That's good to know for my confidence to go up a little bit,rdquo; said Alcaraz, who cracked a smile when told about his 12-4 record against the Top 10 this season./ppstrongMost Wins vs. Top 10 (2024)/strong/pp/ptable style="width: 100%;" tbody tr tdnbsp;strongPlayers/strong/td tdnbsp;strongTop 10 Wins/strong/td tdnbsp;strongWinning % vs. Top 10/strong/td /tr tr tdnbsp;1) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a/td tdnbsp;14-5/td tdnbsp;73.7%/td /tr tr tdnbsp;2) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a/td tdnbsp;12-4/td tdnbsp;75%/td /tr tr tdnbsp;3) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a/td tdnbsp;8-9/td tdnbsp;47.1%/td /tr tr tdnbsp;T4) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexei-popyrin/p09z/overview'Alexei Popyrin/a/td tdnbsp;6-4/td tdnbsp;60%/td /tr tr tdnbsp;T4) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/grigor-dimitrov/d875/overview'Grigor Dimitrov/a/td tdnbsp;6-5/td tdnbsp;54.5%/td /tr tr tdnbsp;T4) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a/td tdnbsp;6-6/td tdnbsp;50%/td /tr tr tdnbsp;T4) a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a/td tdnbsp;6-8/td tdnbsp;42.9%/td /tr /tbody/tablepNot only have they earned a lot of Top 10 wins this year, but they have been doing so at a historic success rate./ppAccording to Infosys ATP Stats, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/bjorn-borg/b058/overview'Bjorn Borg/a holds the career record for winning percentage against the Top 10 at 71.1 per cent. The Swede is the only qualifying player on record with a winning percentage of more than 70 per cent. /ppAlcaraz has claimed 75 per cent of his Top 10 matches this year (12-4) and Sinner has emerged victorious from 73.7 per cent of his Top 10 matches (14-5). According to Alcaraz, it is key against the very best to focus on playing ldquo;good tennisrdquo;./ppldquo;Obviously playing against the top players, you think to yourself that you have to play at your best tennis. If not, you are going to lose against them. That helps a lot,rdquo; Alcaraz said. ldquo;Before matches against top players, realise what kind of game, what kind of shots you are going to play or you're going to hit. I think that's it.

In tennis, really important [is]the mental game, the way you talk to yourself before the matches.rdquo;/p[ATP APP]pThe Spaniard explained how he puts himself in a different mindset to meet the challenge against the very best opponents./ppldquo;When I'm going to play against a top player, I'm going to repeat myself that I'm better,rdquo; Alcaraz said. ldquo;Irsquo;m going to play my best, my 100 per cent just to beat them.rdquo;/ppSinnerrsquo;s Top 10 turnaround helped him climb to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings in June. Entering 2024, the Italian was 22-27 when facing the elite group. This year he is 14-5 and all five of his defeats were in a deciding set./ppSinner is 2-0 in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ilie-nastase/n008/overview'Ilie Nastase/a Group and Alcaraz is 1-1 in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/john-newcombe/n044/overview'John Newcombe/a Group as they both try to reach the semi-finals at the Inalpi Arena. Their success the rest of the week in Turin will rely on their efforts against Top 10 opponents./pp[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p