‘Midfield artist’ Carlos Alcaraz compared to Zinedine Zidane by ATP Tour rival
Lorenzo Musetti believes that Carlos Alcaraz is comparable to an “artist” like football icon Zinedine Zidane as he discussed the Spaniard’s key strengths on a recent podcast appearance.
World No 1 Alcaraz has already cemented his place as a tennis great and as one of the leading players of his era, with six Grand Slam singles titles to his name.
Aged only 22, the Spaniard is already a two-time US Open, French Open, and Wimbledon champion, and has twice finished an ATP Tour season as the year-end world No 1, in 2022 and 2025.
Alcaraz’s 2025 was statistically the best season of his career, winning eight tour titles — including two Grand Slam titles — and reaching a further three finals, with a 71-9 record for the season.
Also embarking on a career-best year in 2025 was Musetti, who made his top-10 debut and ultimately finished the year at eighth in the ATP Rankings, after reaching a high of sixth in June.
The 23-year-old was a finalist in Monte Carlo, Chengdu, and Athens this year and was also a French Open, Italian Open, and Madrid Open semi-finalist, and a US Open quarter-finalist.
Alcaraz and Musetti were regular opponents across the season, with the pair meeting four times in all across 2025.
The Spaniard won all four of those encounters, most recently at the ATP Finals, and now holds a 7-1 overall lead in their head-to-head.
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Much like Alcaraz, Italian star Musetti wrapped up his season after the year-end championships in Turin.
An, an a recent appearance on the Juventus podcast Small Talk, the world No 8 was asked to compare several ATP Tour stars to footballers past and present.
Asked about Alcaraz, Musetti compared him to an ‘artist’ such as Zidane, a Juventus legend widely considered one of the greatest footballers of all time.
He said: “I would say an artist, a midfield artist like a Zinedine Zidane.
“Very, let’s say, inventive, who draws. Then, in midfield, he has a role where he distributes the ball. I see a lot of similarity in that.
“Personality, he [Zidane] was a player who always played with his head held high. Carlos is also very, very strong in that aspect.
“I mean, if he decides to do something, he does it with a lot of authority. He doesn’t worry too much.”
Musetti further compared Jannik Sinner to Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal to Giangluigi Buffon, Roger Federer to Alessandro del Piero, Novak Djokovic to Roberto Baggio, Alexander Zverev to Paulo Dybala, and compatriot Matteo Berrettini to David Trezeguet.
The Italian is now in his off-season, ahead of the start of his 2026 campaign.
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