What Brad Gilbert says will be key for Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner in Monte-Carlo final | ATP Tour

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What Brad Gilbert says will be key for Alcaraz & Sinner in Monte-Carlo final

Former World No. 4 Gilbert dives deep into the strategy of Sunday’s showdown

April 12, 2026

If you had spoken to former World No. 4 and renowned coach Brad Gilbert before the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters about the start to the season, he would have predicted that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner would have played one another upwards of three times from their four tournaments.

But instead, the superstars’ Sunday showdown in the Principality will be their first clash of 2026. Sinner has been in stunning form, winning 16 consecutive matches with the loss of just one set. The Italian enters the final off the back of a flawless performance against World No. 3 Alexander Zverev, to whom he ceded just five games.

“It’s a completely different matchup mentally, because of the fact that Alcaraz could do some things against him that other guys can’t do,” Gilbert said. “It was just a stroll in the park today. He didn’t have that feeling of what could maybe happen here? So, I do think that the biggest thing that I see, that Alcaraz sometimes he can have some dips in focus and concentrator. He can’t have that against Sinner and I think he’s ready to go.”

According to Gilbert, there were so many matches in the legendary rivalries between the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, that there were rarely new wrinkles in the matchups. Those encounters would come down to execution and performance on big points.

Alcaraz leads Sinner 10-6 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but it has felt like there have been constant developments in their matches. Both men have continued improving their game and pushing one another to new heights.

“I feel like the genius of Alcaraz, what really sets him apart and why he’s such a fascinating watch, is his incredible unpredictability and genius level of it,” Gilbert said. “It is whether or not he might all of a sudden, at the tightest time, pull off a couple of drop shots. He might work a serve and volley. He might loop a forehand, crush a forehand.

“Strategising for a player, when you have these feelings and trends of what they do, you have an idea of what to expect. But that’s the beautiful thing about him, he just might throw a wrinkle at you you’re not ready for, and he can execute it.”

Gilbert believes Sinner is “incredibly underrated for his touch” because the 24-year-old is so well known for his machine-like game, blasting opponents off the court from the baseline. But the former coach of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Coco Gauff among others pointed out that the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings occasionally will pull off a tweener and show his skillset. This week, he has hit “some beauties” with his drop shot.

But this year’s Indian Wells and Miami champion is standing out with his serve. Sinner has won 149 of his 154 service games during his 16-match winning streak for a winning rate of 96.8 per cent.

“Sinner has just been playing on another level, especially since Indian Wells. He’s been serving so [well]. He hits his spots, and he’s not a 145 [mph] server or some cannon server, but he’s kind of like a Fed [Roger Federer] server,” Gilbert said. “He serves a little bigger, but he’s a dime server. He’s been hitting his spots so good, and taking care of his serve so unbelievably well, which allows him to literally find easy breaks. But he’s playing at an incredible, methodical level at the moment.”

Gilbert thinks that controlling the centre of the court against Alcaraz will be the most important thing for Sinner to claim his first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 title.

“[It is] not allowing Alcaraz to get in that first variety [shot], maybe the high loop, and then the rip, the drop shot,” Gilbert said. “It’s when he’s in that stationary position and he’s the one controlling the first blow. It’s like two boxers being in the centre, maybe the boxer with the more variety is beating the one with more power.

“So I think Sinner has to control the centre of the court, and I think he has to really make progress on his serve plus one. When he does beat him, I feel like the serve plus one really sets the tone for him.”

This is Alcaraz and Sinner’s first blockbuster match of the year and surely will not be their last. Based on their continued improvement, both men will likely continue putting themselves in these moments.

“The scary thing is for the field is that Sinner and Alcaraz are continuing to improve, and I think they’re actually improving more than anybody else. But that’s partly because of their age. They’re 24 and 22,” Gilbert said. “And that’s what you should be doing, and they’re constantly doing it.”