Pam Shriver identifies two players she believes could test Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros
Photo by Mateo Villalba/Getty Images Jannik Sinner heads into Roland Garros as the clear favourite, but this French Open doesn’t feel like a done deal. Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to match Sinner’s recent form, is out with a forearm injury, and that leaves a big gap at the top of the draw. But even with Alcaraz missing, Novak Djokovic is still in the mix.
The Serb hasn’t been his best so far this season, but he does have a recent win over Sinner at the Australian Open semifinals to fall back on. Pam Shriver spoke about how Alcaraz’s absence could open up opportunities for other players during her appearance on the Inside-In Podcast. Jannik Sinner’s French Open field still wide open Photo by Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images When asked who might be in position to spoil Jannik Sinner’s hopes at Roland Garros, the former Grand Slam finalist pointed to two names that stand out.
“Let’s see how he handles being the home favourite. It hasn’t been a great speciality of the French players the last few decades, playing their best tennis at Roland Garros. ” She then turned her attention to another American, saying: “I think Ben Shelton’s such an interesting player to me because of a lot of reasons.
“First off, I adore his dad. To have one of the great father-son coaching relationships of all time has been great to watch, but the weapons that Ben possesses with the serve, with his attitude, with his embracing of the big moments, you can see the way he loves playing in the majors and his performance has shown. Shelton picked up a clay title in Munich just last month before suffering an unexpected early loss in Madrid.
Looking at Arthur Fils and Ben Shelton’s head-to-head records with Jannik Sinner While Arthur Fils and Ben Shelton are often mentioned among the most promising young players in tennis, their head-to-head records against Sinner don’t exactly support their case. Together, they have managed just one win over the current world number one. Fils had another chance earlier today, but Sinner came through in straight sets during their semi-final clash at the Madrid Open.