Juan Martin del Potro issues candid verdict on who can rival Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Juan Martin del Potro has assessed that “very few” players will be able to compete with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as he weighed in on the duo’s dominance.
Since Novak Djokovic secured his 24th Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open, Alcaraz has won five majors while Sinner has collected the other four.
The pair are the only ATP players to have been ranked world No 1 since Sinner overtook Djokovic to climb to top spot for the first time in June 2024. Alcaraz currently occupies the No 1 position, while Sinner is second.
Del Potro knows what it takes to overcome a duopoly to win a Grand Slam, having triumphed at the 2009 US Open after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had won 17 of the previous 18 Slams between them.
The Argentine was 20 when he defeated Federer in the US Open championship match to claim the only Grand Slam crown of his glittering career.
In an interview with Argentine outlet La Nacion, del Potro — who was the last South American player to win a Grand Slam — was asked if any men from his continent have the potential to win a major in the era of Alcaraz and Sinner.
“Winning a Grand Slam isn’t easy,” said the former world No 3. “Very few of us managed it in the era of the Big Three (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic).
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“And now, I think very few will be able to beat Sinner and Alcaraz. They’ve won the last nine Grand Slams and are clearly ahead of the rest.
“I hope a Latin American can do it. Many years have passed. There are good Argentine players, and there’s Fonseca, who needs time and maturity.
“Before I beat Federer for the first time [in the 2009 US Open final], I lost to him six times. The same with Nadal and Djokovic.
“It’s a process. You have to face them and lose once, twice, three times, and little by little you learn their game and you gain confidence.”
On 19-year-old Brazilian star Fonseca, del Potro added: “He’s very young. He has a lot of potential.
“He has very good shots, and today’s tennis is very powerful, so he has that advantage.”
Del Potro also addressed whether he would have won more majors if he had not had to compete with the Big Three.
“It’s hard to say, because there were [Andy] Murray, [Stan] Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, and so many others like me, and we’d sometimes say, ‘Wow, it’s crazy to be playing in this era, we got the three best players in history’,” said the 37-year-old.
“At the same time, it was also great to face them, to compete in major tournaments, and to try to take them away. It was an extra challenge.”
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