Former British No 1 John Lloyd has discussed Ben Shelton, Joao Fonseca and Rafael Jodar as he identified the “next real deal” in men’s tennis.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who have secured seven and four Grand Slam titles in their careers respectively, have been the two dominant forces on the ATP Tour since the start of 2024.
Between them, Alcaraz and Sinner won nine consecutive majors from the 2024 Australian Open until the 2026 Australian Open.
The streak was broken at the 2026 French Open, where world No 3 Alexander Zverev claimed his maiden major title. Alcaraz did not compete at Roland Garros, while Sinner fell in the second round.
At the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, Sinner and Zverev will face off in the final.
In an exclusive interview, Tennis365 asked Lloyd which young ATP players he sees as the biggest long-term threats to Sinner and Alcaraz.
Lloyd, who was an Australian Open finalist in 1977, began by identifying world No 5 Shelton as “very dangerous.”
“Ben Shelton, but he’s someone — and he’s still very young — that’s still searching for that right formula,” Lloyd said.
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“It’s not quite there yet at the top, top level. He’s not quite there in terms of reading… these points are more important than others, and this one you have to be a little bit more conservative.
“It’s all a bit, kind of, ‘I’m going to go for every ball’, but if he can harness that back a little bit, he’s very dangerous. So I would put him there.”
Lloyd went on to laud 19-year-old Brazilian Fonseca, who was a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros this year.
“I love Fonseca. Out of that group [of young players], I like the look of him big time. He’s pretty damn special,” said the Brit.
“Big breakthrough at the French [Open], he played very well there. He looked the part. He’s a god in Brazil already, and he seems to like it. He likes all that goes with it.
“Lovely game. If I was going to choose someone, I would put him as the next real deal.”
The former world No 23 then weighed in on Jodar, a 19-year-old Spaniard who made a big breakthrough during the 2026 clay-court season.
“On clay, he’s definitely dynamic. Hard courts will be good,” Lloyd assessed.
“Not so sure about grass – it may take a bit of time. His backswing is a bit long at times. But yeah, he’s damn good.”
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