Toni Nadal believes that Carlos Alcaraz’s rivals are ‘a bit weaker’ than those whom Rafael Nadal had to face during his prime years.
The 64-year-old Spaniard coached the 22-time Grand Slam champion from 1989 until 2017, travelling to nearly all tournaments in which his nephew competed.
Alcaraz, unsurprisingly, has often been compared to Nadal, both due to their talent from a young age, as well as their explosive game and competitive fighting spirit.
The Spaniard has already collected six Grand Slams, most recently lifting the title at the 2025 US Open.
In November, he secured his spot as the year-end No 1 – marginally ahead of Jannik Sinner.
However, despite the comparisons between the two Spaniards, the elder Nadal says that the world No 1 benefits from the comparatively lower level of the rest of the field.
“Everyone sees what he is achieving; his athletic attributes are incredible, he truly has everything he needs to succeed,” Nadal explained, as reported by Punto de Break.
“Besides, he has an advantage that players from years ago didn’t have: his rivals are a bit weaker, less committed than those from a few years back.
“He does have a great rival in Jannik Sinner, true, one who is always present, but the others have fallen by the wayside.
“I remember perfectly that during Rafael’s era, besides Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, there were other great players like Andy Murray, Juan Martín del Potro, David Ferrer, or Stan Wawrinka, to name a few.
“These players were always there […] In the current circuit, it seems that the direct rivals have abandoned us.”
His argument is somewhat strengthened by the current ATP rankings, with Alexander Zverev – the current world No 3 – possessing less than half the points of world No 2 Sinner.
Additionally, despite the rankings gap, Alcaraz and Sinner have played the fewest tournaments of any of the players ranked inside the world’s top nine.
The Italian, most recently, defeated Alcaraz in the showpiece match of the Nitto ATP Finals in their first meeting since the New York final, closing their head-to-head to a 6-10 deficit.
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The pair have won all of the eight most recent Grand Slams, often dominating their opponents en route to the showpiece matches.
This season, they faced off against each other in the final of the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open – something which the ‘Big Three’ never achieved.
“As a person, Rafael remains the same, continues to do the same things and behave in the same way, although it is true that he is now a father and has other concerns,” Nadal’s long-time coach later commented, with his nephew retiring at the end of the 2024 season.
“Personally, I can assure you that nothing has changed after his retirement. My relationship with him is more like a friendship than an uncle-nephew relationship.
“We are a close-knit family, we do many things together, like playing golf or having dinner together, I also often visit his children. We have a normal family relationship.”
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