‘Even if Jannik Sinner has very big power, Carlos Alcaraz has even more’

Daniil Medvedev provided some interesting observations when he was asked to share his thoughts on tennis’ rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

The Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry has dominated the sport for the past few months as Sinner won his maiden Grand Slam when he lifted the Australian Open trophy at the start of the year before surging to No 1 in the ATP Rankings in June.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, lifted his third major when he won the French Open as he became the youngest man to win a Slam on the three different surfaces.

The pair have also delivered high-quality matches on court with the Spaniard winning their most-recent clash at the French Open in five sets.

There is no doubt the pair will dominate the sport for years to come but Medvedev was asked after his second-round match at Wimbledon just how difficult it is facing Alcaraz.

“Carlos has a very big quality, like power quality. When he was really young, like 17, he could miss a lot. He has these crazy shots, but at least he misses. Now when he’s in the zone, he doesn’t miss much,” the former US Open winner replied.

“We saw it in Roland Garros. I watched a bit of semi-final and final, not the whole match. You could see that some moments he was missing, struggling. That’s amazing because he played two big, top players, Jannik and Sascha [Zverev]. Even not playing his best and missing, every time he would hit a rocket in the court, the other guy would be in such trouble.

“That’s his big quality, very, very strong shots, doesn’t matter little bit the position. He’s very easy generating power from slow balls, which sometimes many players have trouble. You can use it. You play like a slow ball, you know at least you have the chance to stay in the rally. With Carlos, no. There is no chance. That’s his biggest quality in my opinion.”

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Medvedev lost the Australian Open final in five sets against Sinner so he knows a lot about the Italian’s strengths.

But he does concede that Alcaraz more power than Sinner.

“A bit different, but kind of same. Big quality of strokes. In a different way, like the motion is different, so the way the ball is coming to you is different. I would say that even if Jannik has very big power, Carlos has even more,” he said.

“Jannik same, he managed to find, since little bit the end of last year, in Canada I would say where he won his first Masters, missing less. We always knew it’s tough to play him. He can hit winners from every position of the court, but he could miss. Now he doesn’t miss much. He can hit winners from every position of the court. It’s not easy.

“In order to beat him, you know you have to step out there, you need to be able to hit winners from any position of the court yourself. You need to be able to support the rally.

“It’s not easy to play them, but it’s a great challenge. They are great champions already of the sport. They have big careers ahead of them to make history.”