Carlos Alcaraz arrives at Roland Garros brimming with confidence after taking down chief rival Jannik Sinner in Rome, but the defending champion expects the Italian to be an even tougher proposition after shaking off the rust following his doping ban.
Alcaraz and Sinner will be on opposite sides of the draw as the Spaniard returned to the second in the world this week following his Italian Open triumph, potentially setting the stage for another blockbuster final between the game's two rising superstars.
The 22-year-old Alcaraz has won 15 of 16 matches on clay this season, triumphing at Monte Carlo and reaching the Barcelona final before going all the way in Rome after missing the Madrid Open with a thigh injury.
He has also had Sinner's number of late, winning their last four meetings to take a 7-4 head-to-head advantage, a record that includes Alcaraz's five-set win in last year's French Open semi-final. His success on Sunday ended Sinner's run of 26 successive victories.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz believes the challenge of playing Sinner brings the best out of him.
"He's the best player in the world. It doesn't matter that he was out of the tour for three months. Every tournament he's playing, he plays great. The numbers are there. He wins almost every match he plays," said Alcaraz.
"If I don't play at my best, 10 out of 10, it's going to be impossible to beat him. That's why I'm more focused when I'm playing against him, or I feel a little bit different when I'm going to face him than other players.
"He has that aura. When you're seeing him on the other side of the net, it's different.
"I'm not going to say I'm feeling like when Rafa (Nadal) and Roger (Federer) are playing, but I'm feeling like it's a different energy when we are facing against each other."
Sinner suffered his first straight-sets loss in 18 months in Rome, underlining his dominance in that time. Equally as impressive though was his run to the final in his first tournament since he retained the Australian Open title in January.
"I am closer than expected in a way of everything," said Sinner, who served a three-month ban after twice testing positive for traces of the banned anabolic steroid clostebol.
Sinner has always maintained the product entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing it to treat a cut.
He eventually reached a settlement after authorities accepted the contamination was accidental and that a longer ban would be an "unduly harsh sanction".
Contenders eyeing Swiatek's French Open crown
The French Open women's tournament gets under way this weekend without a clear favourite for the first time in several years, with a clutch of players in strong form and Iga Swiatek enduring an unprecedented slump.
Jasmine Paolini became the eighth different player to reach a WTA 1000 final this season at last week's Italian Open before defeating Coco Gauff to clinch the biggest title of her career.
Aryna Sabalenka has solidified her position as world number one while Swiatek, winner of four Roland Garros titles in the last five years, has failed to reach any tour-level final since lifting her third successive French Open almost 12 months ago.
Sabalenka briefly dropped off from her best form after a surprise Australian Open final loss to Madison Keys before bouncing back with the Miami and Madrid Open titles.
"I got really hungry and angry — angry in a good way and I think at the end, the Australian Open final pushed me to work even harder," she told the WTA.
"(It) kind of explained to me that you have to really work hard in finals and you have to earn your victories. It was a good push for me."
But the Belarusian has also shown signs of fragility and was well beaten by Zheng Qinwen in the Rome quarter-finals.
The three-time Grand Slam champion has never reached the Roland Garros final and could face Swiatek in the last eight.
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