Tennis legend Mats Wilander claims there is “no way” that Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal ever played better tennis than Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The emerging duo have won all four Grand Slams between them this year and are expected to dominate the sport for years to come, just as their predecessors did.
World No.1 Sinner won the Australian Open and the US Open while his Spanish rival Alcaraz claimed the French Open and Wimbledon. They were embroiled in another fierce battle during the China Open final this week, where third-ranked Alcaraz won seven straight points in the tiebreaker to win 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3), having also beaten the Italian at Indian Wells and Roland Garros.
Wilander, who won seven Grand Slams himself between 1982 and 1988, has boldly claimed that tennis’ two young stars have already eclipsed the ‘Big Three’ in terms of their level of tennis. That is despite Federer, who retired in 2022, Nadal and Djokovic being widely considered as the three greatest players ever with an astonishing 66 Grand Slam titles between them.
Wilander, 60, told EuroSport: “They are following in the footsteps of the ‘Big Three’ in terms of level. I hope Roger, Novak, and Rafa are not listening, but in terms of level, when Sinner and Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way anyone has ever played better tennis.
“Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner put on such a great, entertaining show. To me, it’s up there with the absolute best sporting events ever. It keeps happening every single time they play. They come up with suspense, they come up with entertainment.”
Sinner’s 15-match winning streak was ended by Alcaraz this week, taking the Spaniard’s record against the Italian to 6-4 as they turn their attention to the Shanghai Masters. Alcaraz insists that, like the ‘Big Three’ before them, the pair have a “really good relationship” despite the rivalry.
“We have a really good relationship off the court as well,” Alcaraz said. “I think we both respect each other a lot, as a player, as a person, but once we are on tour travelling, during tournaments when we are on site, we are with our team on our own, so we don’t speak too much.
“When we can, we talk a little bit besides tennis, about life a little bit, but not too much. We have a good relationship, but we are not close friends, but I think the respect that we have put us in a position that we have a really good relationship.
“When Jannik and I face each other, playing against each other, I think it’s a really good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies. I think for the people who don’t watch tennis, probably thanks to these kind of matches, [they] start to watch tennis or even practise it. I think it is pretty good.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk