Daniil Medvedev makes ‘almost impossible’ confession about chasing Alcaraz & Sinner

Ewan West 04 Jan 2026 4:30 PM

Daniil Medvedev speaks about Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

Daniil Medvedev has spoken candidly about the task of trying to catch Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as he identified what sets the dominant duo apart from the rest of the ATP Tour.

Alcaraz sits top of the ATP Rankings on 12,050 points, while Sinner is the world No 2 with 11,500 points. There is a chasm between the pair and third-ranked Alexander Zverev, who has 5,110 points.

Since Novak Djokovic won the 2023 US Open, Alcaraz and Sinner have shared the last eight Grand Slams between them, winning four each (two each in both 2024 and 2025).

Medvedev, 29, is the youngest male Grand Slam champion after Alcaraz and Sinner, having won his only major at the 2021 US Open.

In his pre-tournament press conference at the Brisbane International, Medvedev was asked if he thinks he can chase Alcaraz and Sinner down.

“I think they are stronger than everyone, and even I saw some stats, I think it was when Sinner lost in quarters of Roland Garros, I would not remember the year, he was super young, he was the youngest in the quarter-final,” said the former world No 1, who is currently ranked 13th.

“They showed, and his baseline strokes’ power was stronger than everyone, and Rafa was there at the time. So, hey, when someone hits stronger than you, puts everything in the court, runs definitely not slower than you, serves not worse than you, it’s tough to beat him.

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“But you can always try. But in terms of consistency that they both showed last year, it’s probably almost impossible for anyone to get to this No 2 spot.

“But then, you know, the Slams is the most important, and they were in all the finals — no; three out of four finals last year. But you can always beat them in one match.

“Probably if you play, like, 10 matches, probably not going to get a lot of wins, but you can always beat them in one match, and that’s the goal whenever you play them.”

What is Daniil Medvedev’s record against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner?

7-8 vs Jannik Sinner
2-6 vs Carlos Alcaraz

Medvedev won his first six encounters with Sinner, but he has since lost eight of his last nine matches against the Italian — a run that began with a defeat in the 2023 China Open final.

The Russian won two of his first four clashes with Alcaraz, but the Spaniard has won the last four meetings since Medvedev’s victory in the 2023 US Open semi-finals.

Medvedev has not played Sinner since the 2024 ATP Finals and Alcaraz since the 2024 China Open.

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