Carlos Alcaraz dubs Jannik Sinner "the favorite" for ATP Finals title match

Carlos Alcaraz may have won seven of the last eight meetings against Jannik Sinner, but the Spaniard says that the Italian is "the favorite" for Sunday's championship match at the season-ending ATP Finals.

The world No. 1 and world No. 2 set the dream final with straight-sets wins over Alex de Minaur and Felix Auger-Aliassime, respectively, on Saturday, and something will have to give in the pair's last dance this season. Alcaraz hopes to put an exclamation mark on his second year-end No. 1 season, while Sinner has won 30 straight matches indoors and nine straight tilts in Turin as the defending champion.

Read more: Carlos Alcaraz meets Jannik Sinner for ATP Finals trophy | Preview, Pick, Where to Watch

And while Alcaraz confirmed his grip on the top spot by going 3-0 in round-robin play in Turin, he confessed that Sinner's imperious form indoors, coupled in Turin with fervent home-soil support, makes their impending Turin showdown "one of the most difficult challenge[s] that we have in tennis right now."

Q. You are the world No. 1, but Jannik has this amazing indoor record. Who is the favorite?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Who is the favorite (smiling)? I mean, the No. 1 means that I've been playing really good during the whole season, in the whole surfaces. He's playing the best on indoor court. We're playing in front of his home crowd. I would say he's the favorite.

Don't want to believe it, but I would say he's the favorite for tomorrow I guess (smiling).

While beating his chief rival for his first year-end crown (and getting revenge for a 6-3 practice-set loss earlier in the tournament) will be sweet, Alcaraz is equally motivated by the prospect of winning his first year-end crown, and accomplishing something that his idol, Rafael Nadal, never could.

"Coming here, playing a good tennis, and be able to lift the trophy at the end of the week would mean a lot to me, even more [than] winning [against] Jannik," he said. "Being in the same list as [Manuel] Orantes and [Alex] Corretja, to be the Spaniard to win this tournament. Putting my name next to them would be great."