‘No-one has played better than Alcaraz and Sinner – not even Nadal, Federer or Djokovic’

Tennis legend Mats Wilander says there is “no way” Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have ever played better tennis than rising stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner and Alcaraz swept all four Grand Slams between them this year and are tipped to dominate the sport for years to come, following in the footsteps of their predecessors. The world’s top-ranked player Sinner clinched the Australian Open and the US Open, while his Spanish rival Alcaraz claimed the French Open and Wimbledon.

The two were locked in another intense showdown during the China Open final this week, where world No.3 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, a seven-time Grand Slam champion himself between 1982 to 1988, has boldly claimed that the emerging duo have already outshone the ‘Big Three’ in terms of their tennis prowess. That comes despite Federer, who hung up his racket in 2022, Nadal and Djokovic being widely hailed as the three greatest players of all time with a staggering 66 Grand Slam titles between them.

Speaking to EuroSport, the 60-year-old Swede said: “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.”

Alcaraz ended Sinner’s 15-match winning streak this week, taking the Spaniard’s head-to-head record against the Italian to 6-4 as they both pursue glory at the Shanghai Masters. But despite their fierce rivalry on the court, Alcaraz insists their friendship echoes the camaraderie seen among the ‘Big Three’ before them.

“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.”