Pat Cash predicts how Jannik Sinner will now react to losing the Roland Garros final to Carlos Alcaraz

One of the highest-quality Grand Slam finals in recent memory, Carlos Alcaraz’s dramatic comeback will be remembered for decades by those who were lucky enough to watch it.

Pat Cash, as someone who suffered a similarly devastating defeat or two during his career, has sought to look ahead to how Jannik Sinner might react ahead of Wimbledon.

How Jannik Sinner is predicted to react to Roland Garros final defeat

Andrew Castle, who was on commentary of Alcaraz’s Queen’s win yesterday, actually began speaking about Jaume Munar. However, his praise soon melted into a story about how the 22-year-old’s greatness actually moulded Sinner into the player he is today.

The commentator claimed: ’The best he’s [Munar] ever finished the year is a 58 in the world, it’s still pretty sound, but the youngest man ever to finish the year as the world number one was Carlos Alcaraz when he won the US Open at the age of 19.

‘And it drove the Jannik Sinner to distraction that he beat him to the Grand Slam winner’s circle. And you know what? Talking about this rivalry he has with Jannik Sinner… Darren Cahill, who coaches Sinner, just said Jannik saw Alcaraz winning a slam and decided just to get physical and just to commit, commit and commit again, just so that he could go five sets and win these great contests.

‘Then, what happens at the French Open? One of the greatest matches of all time, just 10, 11 days ago, and he beats Sinner in five. I wonder how Sinner will respond to all of this, actually. He’ll probably be fine because he’s so calm.’

Cash replied: ‘Yeah I think so.

‘Darren, who coaches him. A very good mate of mine. We grew up together and stay in contact regularly, about Aussie rules football more than anything, but yeah, it’s heartbreaking to lose a match like that.

‘I know all too well about that. I lost the Australian Open final, 8-6 in the fifth set. Wilander. The year before I lost one 6-3/6-4 in the fifth against Edberg. And it is heartbreaking. Especially that second one, really, really hurt against Wilander.

‘I played really good tennis, and I walked away from that. My feedback to them was, look, you played really well and sometimes the other guy is just a little bit better than you.

‘But you executed as well as you possibly can. If Alcaraz was off by less than a percent, Sinner would have walked away with a straight-sets win. But he plays his best tennis in the biggest matches.’

Jannik Sinner’s chances at Wimbledon

Although the 23-year-old will still be one of the heavy favourites to claim the crown at the All-England Club, it’s hard to ignore his most recent result: a shock defeat to Alexander Bublik on the Halle grass yesterday.

Andy Roddick has given his thoughts on Sinner’s Wimbledon chances after such a loss, seeking to downplay its importance, but the fact of the matter is that grass does not suit the Italian as much as other surfaces.

After all, the ball flies, skidding and thus allowing players with huge serves to dictate.

Sinner, meanwhile, prefers to be able to set himself and strike the ball wherever he pleases; a style that is easier to exhibit on the clay, and even more so on the hard courts.

Jannik Sinner’s last five results vs Carlos Alcaraz

He will remain a very credible threat at Wimbledon and likely will reach the latter rounds.

It just seems unlikely that this would be the stage where he dethrones Alcaraz and ends his losing streak.