The tennis world has missed Carlos Alcaraz immensely as he has been forced out of action for the longest time in his career since his ATP Tour debut in 2020.
Alcaraz suffered an unfortunate wrist injury against Otto Virtanen in the first round of the Barcelona Open, which forced him to withdraw from his home tournament.
The Spaniard has since been forced to miss the rest of the clay court swing, including Roland Garros, as well as the entirety of the grass court season.
Alcaraz was forced to watch from home as Jannik Sinner romped to the Wimbledon final for the second consecutive year with a victory in the final against Alexander Zverev.
It appears, however, that Alcaraz’s withdrawal from Wimbledon forced tennis fans away from their screens during the Grand Slam final.
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The Wimbledon final between Sinner and Zverev, which take place on Sunday, July 12th, was watched by a peak audience of 5.95 million on BBC One.
That was dramatically down from the 2025 Wimbledon, which was watched by a peak audience of 8.3 million on the British broadcaster.
What was the major difference between the finals in 2025 and 2026? One of them featured Alcaraz and one of them didn’t.
Sinner and Alcaraz competed for the Wimbledon crown in 2025, which the Italian was able to claim for the first time in his career after a four set battle.
Granted, the match did come straight after their epic Roland Garros battle a month earlier, but it is further proof that Alcaraz is a bigger draw than Sinner.
This is not a new ideology, with many pundits and ex-professionals suggesting Alcaraz is the far more popular player than Sinner.
Speaking on The Spout Podcast, Patrick McEnroe suggested the reasons why tennis fans prefer Alcaraz over Sinner.
“Sinner’s a great player, but he’s a little more mechanical in the way he plays,” said the American. “His personality is different, you know Bjorn Borg was quiet, when he used to play against my brother he would be very stoic. You have to be who you are.
“I find that tennis players, their game often models in a way their personality. Are they outgoing, do they go for their shots, do they come to the net? Sinner’s a little bit more of a reserved guy off the court, but he couldn’t be nicer and he couldn’t be classier.
“He’s trying to develop his game so he can continue to compete with Alcaraz tournament in and tournament out. But this guy is awesome too, he has won four majors already.
“He has taken the ball-striking ability off the ground to another level, he just doesn’t quite have as much variety of shot as Alcaraz. But boy, he hits the ball as well off the ground strokes as I have ever seen!”
Alcaraz might still be out of action, but the Wimbledon proof is further proof tennis fans can’t wait until he returns to the court once again.
