Former world No 1 believes the tennis public may never warm to Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s rivalry in the way they did to the battles between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Sinner and Alcaraz have started their own era of dominance in men’s tennis, after contesting the last two Grand Slam finals at the French Open and Wimbledon.
They have separated themselves from the chasing pack in the men’s game, playing a brand of high-octane tennis that is too much for their rivals to deal with, but Wilander has suggested they may never get the kind of adoration from tennis and wider sports fans that Federer and Nadal attracted.
“I think it’s very hard to beat Federer and Nadal,” said Wilander, as he prepares to join the Eurosport team at the US Open.
“There was a great contrast of style with Roger and Rafa in the way that they play and then I think it was very easy to be drawn towards one or the other because of the way that they were on court.
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“You had one very, very quiet, very stoic, very sort of gentleman way of playing tennis in Roger Federer. Then you had the warrior in Rafael Nadal.
“So the contrast of personality on the court and the contrast of technical styles is much, much, much greater than the contrast between Sinner and Alcaraz.
“If Sinner and Alcaraz keep playing finals like they did at the French Open, then it’s possible that they will get to a higher level than Federer and Nadal.”
Tennis legend John McEnroe suggested Sinner and Alcaraz have taken the sport to a level we have never seen before over the last year and while seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Wilander agrees with that sentiment, but they will need to maintain this level of excellence for many years to become as popular as Federer and Nadal.
Mats Wilander is part of the Eurosport commentary team
“In terms of the level of the play, I mean, tennis has never been played at a higher level than the French Open Final this year was played,” he added.
“That match has put a lot of pressure and expectations on both Sinner and Alcaraz for them to be able to do that again and again, and again, because that’s what it’s going take for them to become more important than Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
“I think for the next few Grand Slams, we are going to be talking about Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but are they able to dominate the way they did at the French Open, at Wimbledon, and make it to the finals every time?
“I believe we’re seeing two players that will fight for probably 15 Grand Slam finals before they’re done, at least. They’re that good. And at the moment, they’re that much better than everybody else.
“So I think the obvious storyline for this US Open is can Sinner and Alcaraz get to the final and will we see another great match like we saw at the French Open. That’s the storyline for this tournament and most probably until sometime next year.”
Federer won 20 Grand Slam titles and is widely recognised as the most popular tennis player of all time with fans, while Nadal is also hailed as a fans’ favourite after winning 22 Grand Slam titles, including 14 at the French Open.
Novak Djokovic has won two more Grand Slam titles than Nadal and is the man to catch for Sinner and Alcaraz if they want to get into the conversation over who will be the greatest male tennis player of all time.
Watch the US Open on Eurosport and HBO Max
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