Jannik Sinner suffered a shocking defeat in his second-round match at the Halle Open.
Bouncing back from his devastating loss in the French Open final, Sinner won his opening match in Halle against Yannick Hanfmann 7-5, 6-3.
His time in Germany was short-lived, however, as Sinner lost to Alexander Bublik in the second round 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
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Suffering his first defeat to a player not named Carlos Alcaraz since August 2024, Sinner’s Wimbledon preparations took a big hit.
Reacting to Sinner’s Halle Open exit, Alcaraz revealed how long he thinks it will take the world number one to recover from the Roland Garros final earlier this month.
Carlos Alcaraz says it takes ‘two or three days minimum’ to recover from a ‘really tough loss’
After Alcaraz beat Arthur Rinderknech in the Queen’s Club Championships quarterfinals, he was asked how long it takes for a player like Sinner to recover from a tough defeat.
“Well, depends on the matches. There were a few matches, really long matches that I have lost, and yeah, I just left the court by myself with the head up, and I didn’t need too much time to recover from that, and there were other matches that it was really tough to deal with,” he said.
“I know that day for him [Jannik Sinner], that final was pretty tough to deal with after all, mentally. So I don’t know. From my experience, some matches that I have lost, I took three, four days just to recover mentally.
“Physically, as well, if it was demanding physically. So two or three days minimum just to recover from a really tough loss.”
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Alcaraz beat Sinner in one of the great Grand Slam finals earlier this month, saving championship points en route to a thrilling 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6 win in Paris.
After over five hours of thrilling action, the Spaniard prevailed, leaving Sinner devastated on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Returning to ATP Tour action just nine days removed from the most heartbreaking defeat of his career, it looked as though Sinner had brushed off the loss.
His match against Bublik told a whole other story, as the Italian came up short against the world number 45.
Following the loss, it’s tough to gauge Sinner’s level heading into Wimbledon.
Carlos Alcaraz has a chance to close the gap to Jannik Sinner at Queen’s
While Sinner falters, Alcaraz keeps on winning, extending his unbeaten run to 16 matches with his victory against Rinderknech at Queen’s.
If Alcaraz were to go all the way and win the 2025 Queen’s Club Championships, he’d close right up to Sinner at the top of the world rankings.
Live ATP Rankings if Carlos Alcaraz wins Queen’s
A gap of 1,130 points would separate the pair, although Alcaraz does have more to defend than Sinner at Wimbledon.
Alcaraz will head to SW19 looking to defend his title and 2,000 points, whereas Sinner only has 400 points to defend, following his run to the quarterfinals in 2024.
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Therefore, the Italian will have a golden opportunity to further extend his lead atop the ATP rankings.
It is, however, more likely that we will see Alcaraz regain the number one ranking from Sinner later in the year, when the 23-year-old defends the majority of his points on hard courts.
Points Jannik Sinner has to defend on hard courts in 2025
- Canadian Open – 200 points
- Cincinnati Open – 1,000 points
- US Open – 2,000 points
- China Open – 330 points
- Shanghai Masters – 1,000 points
- ATP Finals – 1,500 points
- Total – 6,030 points
Points Carlos Alcaraz has to defend on hard courts in 2025
- Cincinnati Open – 50 points
- US Open – 50 points
- China Open – 500 points
- Shanghai Masters – 200 points
- Paris Masters – 100 points
- ATP Finals – 200 points
- Total – 1,100 points
With 4,930 fewer points to defend, Alcaraz will be on the attack during the second half of the season, chasing down his biggest rival for the world number one ranking.
Only time will tell if Alcaraz or Sinner will be ranked number one in the world upon the conclusion of the 2025 ATP season.
Alcaraz won’t want to get ahead of himself, however, and will first focus on his semi-final match at Queen’s against Roberto Bautista Agut on Saturday, June 21.