PARIS, France (AFP) — Reigning French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz said his budding rivalry with Jannik Sinner was good for the sport as the Spaniard prepares to begin his Roland Garros campaign which could culminate with a blockbuster final against the Italian top seed.

Alcaraz and Sinner have shared the last five Grand Slam titles between them, with the Spaniard claiming the French Open and Wimbledon last year, while Sinner opened his major account with victory in the Australian Open in 2024 before winning the US Open and defending his Melbourne title in January.

“I think for the people, for the tennis fans, I think it’s great to have a match-up from some players that make them excited about watching that match,” Alcaraz told his pre-tournament press conference.

“Right now I think the people are excited every time that I’m facing Jannik. Our matches I think are a really high quality of tennis.”

“I think for the people and probably the people who don’t like watching tennis, I think (our rivalry) is something that because of that (they have) started to watch tennis.”

The 22-year-old nonetheless tempered expectations by insisting the rivalry was not yet on a par with some of the great match-ups in tennis history such as Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal or Bjorn Borg versus John McEnroe.

“I’m not gonna put myself or the great rivalry that I have with Jannik at (the) same level as those legends,” Alcaraz said.

“Let’s see in the future how it’s gonna be. Right now for sure I’m not going to put ourselves into that table of rivalries, but I think people are excited about watching our matches.”

Fans were given a mouthwatering appetizer ahead of Roland Garros when Alcaraz and Sinner met in the final of the Italian Open last Sunday.

Despite not having played since the Australian Open in January due to a three-month doping suspension, world No. 1 Sinner bulldozed his way to the final.

But Alcaraz stopped the 23-year-old from claiming victory in his home Masters with a dominant 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 performance that also put paid to a 26-match winning streak for the Italian.

Alcaraz’s run to the semis in Rome moved him to number two in the world, ensuring he would come into Paris as the second seed behind Sinner.

However, beyond the top two, Alcaraz praised the overall strength in depth at the upper echelons of the men’s game.

“I think in general, the top 20, 25, 30, they have a really high level of tennis,” he said.

“We could see it right now, for example, (Jakub) Mensik is 20, 21 (ranking), and he won Miami. That means how strong are the top 30 right now.”