Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz backed to surpass Novak Djokovic’s Grand Slam tally
Novak Djokovic’s tally of 24 Grand Slam trophies appears to be untouchable at the moment, but Mark Petchey believes Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have an excellent chance to pass that total in the coming years.
Tennis great Djokovic broke the record for most majors won by a male player when he won the 2023 French Open as he moved ahead of Rafael Nadal’s 22. A few months later, he extended his record to 24 when he lifted the US Open.
He now finds himself tied with Margaret Court’s milestone of 24 for both men and women, although he holds the Open Era record as the Australian won 13 of her Grand Slams before tennis turned professional in 1968.
With Nadal and Federer (20 Grand Slams) both retired, Alcaraz is next in line in terms of most majors won by an active player as he won his fifth title at this year’s French Open while Sinner now sits on four after lifting the Wimbledon trophy.
Despite Djokovic’s massive advantage, Petchey – who coached Andy Murray early on his career and also mentored Emma Raducanu this year – believes that due to the change in surfaces, the two youngsters can break his record.
“I think it’s possible that either of them surpass Novak Djokovic’s major wins total because I think the surfaces are pretty similar now,” he told OLBG.
“We can’t talk about it like it was the 80s and the 90s when clay was completely different to grass and it was virtually impossible for Pete Sampras to win on clay compared to grass.
“Our benchmark needs to change with the fact that the four majors are very close in terms of playability these days. From what we thought in the past was extraordinary with 14 titles for Sampras, is now probably not going to be as extraordinary.
“I still think 20 is a massive number. If I was to pick one that was going to make it before the other, I would say Jannik could get there maybe before Carlos. I think it will be done. I do think we’ll see other players win 20 majors.”
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The pair have dominated the Grand Slams the past few years as they have won the last seven majors between them.
Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 9-5, having won six of their last seven encounters, including the Cincinnati Open when Sinner retired while trailing 0-5 due to illness.
The Italian, though, won the Wimbledon final while the Spaniard came out on top in the French Open final.
Petchey said: “Alcaraz is going to be chomping at the bit to win it. These two are going to go head-to-head over the next decade, stealing each other’s trophies.
“Obviously, it will sting losing his first major final but as he said afterwards it was going to happen at some stage, and it happens to the best. It’s happened to him now and I think that’s just fuel for him to get better, to figure out how to play Jannik.
“It has felt like his peak at times was better than Jannik’s. I’m starting to wonder whether that’s true. Jannik lost to him at Roland Garros, but should have won and he won comfortably at Wimbledon.
“I’m interested to see how that rivalry develops, because I do think that Jannik has got the edge at the moment by a small margin.
“It’s going to be up to Carlos to respond. That was the beauty of the great rivalry that we had with Roger and Rafa and Novak. They constantly made each other better.
“It’ll be interesting to see how they both develop their patterns of play. We’ve seen both Sinner and Alcaraz already change their backhands. We’ve seen both change their serves. And I’m sure there’ll be more tweaks along the way.
“We’ve seen pictures of Jannik serving and volleying in Monte Carlo. It is definitely something that he’s keeping up his sleeve and working on until he feels comfortable. They’re just pushing each other.”
