Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner dominance is ‘annoying’ admits former top 10 star
The men’s game was dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic for much of the last two decades, with the chasing pack fighting for scraps in the biggest events in the sport.
With the ‘Big 4’ finally coming to the end of their historic period of dominance, the players who have been waiting for their chance to challenge for the biggest prizes in the sport may have hoped their opportunity would come to claim some glory of their own.
Yet the new ‘Big 2’ in men’s tennis have started their own era of winning, with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner winning all of the last six Grand Slam titles between them.
That must be a source of frustration for players who had been waiting for their chance to striker and former world No 7 David Goffin has admitted the Alcaraz and Sinner show is a source of frustration.
Responding to a question from Tennis365 asking if the new kings of the men’s game are a source of annoyance to the rest, the Belgian gave an honest response.
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“Yeah probably it is (annoying),” said Goffin, speaking at The Boodles exhibition event at Stoke Park.
“I had some great results in the past, and most of my great results finished with Novak, with Roger, Rafa, or even Andy.
“Sometimes you knew that when they were like their prime, you knew that, okay, I can maybe go until the semis, and then I have a big three in the semis and maybe could be stopped
“That was the feeling we had, I think, all the players that, okay, where are they in the draw? What can you do? At least I have beaten all of those players. So it’s great to have on the the CV.”
Goffin is perfectly placed to pass judgment on Alcaraz and Sinner, while also comparing them to Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.
While he beat Alcaraz for a second time at the Miami Open back in March, the 34-year-old believes his much younger rival has elements of all the greats in his game.
“It’s tough to compare,” he added. “ It’s different games and different game style, especially when you compare Novak, Rafa and Djokovic and Roger
“For me, Alcaraz has a little bit of those three players. Sometimes he’s really powerful, like Rafa, sometimes he can take the ball a little like Roger, and he can be solid like Novak.
“So he had a little bit of everything, but he’s just that for the moment, he’s still young, he’s not as mature as the ‘Big 3’.
“ He had a whole lot of in his game and we will see what he’s going to do, but it’s tough to compare because those three guys who just stopped. I mean, Roger, Rafa and Novak, they were just monsters, so it’s tough to say now what he’s going to do.
“ He’s only at five Grand Slam, so that’s not bad. Let’s see what he can do.”
Goffin has been drawn to play against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata in the opening round at Wimbledon and he could face the big-serving Ben Shelton in round two.
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