Are Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s achievements being belittled? Renowned coach thinks so
Patrick Mouratoglou believes it is unfair to suggest that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are dominating men’s tennis due to the lack of opposition, saying it devalues their achievements.
Alcaraz and Sinner have formed the new Big Two as they have shared the last eight Grand Slams with the Spaniard winning two French Open crowns, one Wimbledon title and one US Open trophy, while Sinner won back-to-back Australian Open titles, the 2024 US Open and Wimbledon in 2025.
To highlight their supremacy last year, the pair appeared in six finals, including three consecutive majors – French Open, Wimbledon and US Open – with Alexander Zverev the last player not named Alcaraz or Sinner to appear in a Slam showpiece match.
Unsurprisingly, they have also dominated the ATP Rankings with Alcaraz currently at No 1 and Sinner just 550 points behind him while Zverev a distant third as he is more than 6,000 points adrift of the Italian.
It has led to suggestions that their rivals are not good enough and recently former world No 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga asserted that had they played in the era of the Big Three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer things would have been different as they would have faced rivals like Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and Stan Wawrinka.
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But renowned coach Mouratoglou – who mentored the great Serena Williams for a decade and won 10 Grand Slams with her – is not on the same page as his fellow Frenchman.
“Comparing eras in tennis is tempting. But it’s also one of the most dangerous exercises,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.
“Jo-Wilfried Tsonga recently said to ‘Univers Tennis’ that what he would have loved to see is Carlos Alcaraz winning Roland-Garros by beating Del Potro, Murray, Djokovic, Federer and Nadal in the same tournament.
“His point is clear: different eras, different adversity. And this is exactly where I disagree.
“I don’t believe for one second that today’s top players are weaker or less dangerous than those of previous generations. Players like [Jack] Draper, [Holger] Rune, [Alex] De Minaur, [Taylor] Fritz, [Ben] Shelton, [Felix] Auger-Aliassime are huge players. Really huge. And I’m not even sure that anyone from the previous generation would beat them on a regular basis.
“Jo mentions Wawrinka and Del Potro, unbelievable players, of course, but let’s not rewrite history. At 29, Stan Wawrinka was a good player, nothing more. At 31, he became a triple Grand Slam winner. That shows how much timing, confidence and evolution matter.”
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Del Potro won the 2009 US Open, beating Nadal in the semi-final and Federer in the final, while Wawrinka beat Nadal in the 2014 Australian Open final while Djokovic was on the opposite side of the net when the Swiss won the 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open.
Mouratoglou added that it is unfair to suggest Alcaraz and Sinner only started dominating once the Big Three left the big state.
He added: “Another important point: Alcaraz and Sinner didn’t start winning because Novak, Rafa or Roger disappeared. They beat Djokovic with 23 Grand Slams to start winning majors.
“When Novak won three Grand Slams in a single year and made the final of the fourth, the one he lost… he lost it to Alcaraz.
“So saying that Alcaraz and Sinner dominate mainly because of a lack of opposition doesn’t give them the credit they fully deserve. The level today is unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.”
