Reason why Carlos Alcaraz on Jannik Sinner is no better than the Big 3

Tennis fans around the world were very concerned that the sport would lose appeal if the Big Three retired. Roger Federer retired in 2022, while Rafael Nadal is still active, but not the player he once was. Novak Djokovic is still competitive and won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer, but the first signs of decline started to appear at the age of 37. The Serbian legend is yet to win an ATP title in 2024 and has not even won a Major title for the first time since 2017.

The big dominators this season were certainly Jannik Sinner And Carlos Alcarazthe only two players likely to follow in the Big 3’s footsteps over the next decade. The Italian top player had a 2024 that bordered on perfection, winning two Grand Slam titles and two Masters 1000s while suffering just six defeats.

The Spanish champion did not have the same consistency as Jannik, but he did become the youngest player ever to win the title French Open and the Wimbledon Championships in the same year. As if that wasn’t enough, the 21-year-old from Murcia also won the Indian Wells Masters 1000, the ATP 500 in Beijing and the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Paris.

What a rivalry

Carlitos and Jannik put on a show in the final of the Beijing tournament last week. The four-time Grand Slam champion won the decisive tiebreak at the end of an epic battle. The past few days Mats Wilander‘s statements after the final of the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing, won by Carlos Alcaraz from Jannik Sinner after more than 3 hours of play and with a great spectacle on the field, had caused a lot of commotion.

The former Swedish tennis player and seven-time Slam champion did not hesitate to compare the matches between Sinner and Alcaraz to those of the Big 3, calling them superior in terms of play. “They are following in the footsteps of the Big Three,” said Wilander, “I hope Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic don’t listen to me, but in terms of level, when Sinner and Alcaraz are at the top. , There is no one who has played better tennis. Definitely strong sentences, especially when it comes to three players who have won a total of 66 Grand Slam tournaments: 24 Djokovic, 22 Nadal and 20 Federer.

And former Ukrainian tennis player Alex Dolgopolov posted his deep disagreement with Wilander on his X-profile. “Sorry Mats,” opens his post to the highlights of the Beijing tournament final and my opinion is probably worthless. “I strongly disagree,” Dolgopolov continued, “the Big 3 had a much higher level of use of heights, changes of pace and finding angles. On a good day, I would never choose the currently present stars.”

The Italian great and the Spanish champion have shown that they can play at a much higher level than any other player, especially in major tournaments. Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas seem to be far behind them at the moment, and even Serbian legend Djokovic begins to feel the weight of age.

Second chance in Shanghai?

Alcaraz and Sinner could meet again in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters 1000but there is still a long way to go. The 21-year-old from Murcia is waiting Gael Monfils in the round of 16, hoping to get a rematch from his loss in Cincinnati over the summer. The Italian will have a very difficult match against the young American Ben Sheltonwho only beat him in Shanghai last year.

In the latest edition of the show ‘Sans Filet’, top analyst Benoit Maylin discussed the rivalry between these two young champions: “I’m more impressed with what Sinner was able to do than what Alcaraz was able to do. I have the impression that for Alcaraz all the gods of the universe have fallen on his head.

He has it all. Not a sinner. When you see him arrive on the track, you think he’s going to have trouble with his monolithic tennis. The progress he has made has him bubbling inside like everyone else. You have to be able to control your mind with all the other stories it has to deal with. And the man doesn’t move an ear and still manages to be number 1 in the world with that bib. They all tell you: you’re number 1, everyone wants to take you down. It’s normal, you are the target. You have to hold that position, and he has it.”