X-Men

Unsurprisingly, our two aliens are meeting for the third time in a row in a Grand Slam final, something that has never happened in the Open era!

Already 16 confrontations between the two men at only 22 and 24 years old, their dominance is undeniable. If Carlito leads 10-6 and 4-2 in finals, and 5-2 on hard court. Wait... 5-2 on hard court? Yes, yes. And that's of course the first parameter highlighted between the two men: the speed of the surface and the conditions. To simplify, the faster it is, the more effective Sinner's game is against Carlito's. Boom boom would prevail over creativity. Aggression over cunning. So yes, Carlito needs more time to organize, but even when it's difficult to create when you're taking deep shots from all sides, he still has weapons to turn the situation around. The serve/volley, his forehand power, his athleticism (+ powerful and more enduring than Jannik)... and especially during this fortnight: his quality of serve, return, and focus. Indeed, it's no secret: Carlito has, for the moment, had a better tournament than Jannik. He reaches the final without having lost a single set, which is much rarer for him. While Jannik has shown some weak signals. Shapo, abs, low first serve %... Should we consider this as a parameter that has weight: it depends. I'm part of the team that thinks that when Carlito is in great shape, he's the best. No matter the conditions. On hard courts, Jannik is the favorite very often, and rightly so, but not when Carlito is at 100% and he is at 85... Then there are the conditions: yesterday's women's final was played with the roof closed, and it could well be the same tonight. What impact if the roof is closed? Wetter conditions, therefore slower and physically difficult (Carlito's advantage), but no wind or sun (closer to indoors, therefore Jannik's advantage). I would add that analyzing such a final is always tricky because the guys know each other inside out and tension can get involved. It's a match apart. And the stats are very often relative. For me, it's a game of cat and mouse. Jannik recently regained the upper hand with his victory at Wim, but Carlito was able to draw some conclusions from it, such as the need to absolutely focus on his first shot, the serve and the return, to avoid having to suffer too much aggression from the Italian. His matches here, against big servers, show that he has worked on this, as does his quality of serve, especially on the second. I think he has become the cat, and that he is keen to regain that number 1 spot and finally manage to play a full season at a very high level. Vamos Carlito.