Legendary coach Rick Macci has shared his opinion on how Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s level of tennis compares to that of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at their peak.
Since the start of 2024, Sinner and Alcaraz have been the two dominant players on the ATP Tour, and they have separated themselves from the chasing pack further in recent months.
The duo have met in the finals at the last four tournaments they have entered: Cincinnati, Wimbledon, the French Open and the Italian Open. They are red-hot favourites to make it five straight final encounters at the 2025 US Open.
Sinner and Alcaraz have captured the last seven Grand Slam titles between them, with the Italian winning four and the Spaniard claiming three.
Alcaraz has not lost to a player besides Sinner since his defeat to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April. Sinner’s only defeat to a player other than Alcaraz since August 2024 came against Alexander Bublik at the Halle Open in June.
Speaking exclusively to Tennis365, Macci was asked if Sinner and Alcaraz’s current level is similar to that achieved by the Big Three in their respective primes.
“Absolutely, I think you could even put [Pete] Sampras in there,” said Macci, who has coached five players who became world No 1, including Venus and Serena Williams.
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“You know, I would put Sinner and Alcaraz, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Sampras… I think, all things being equal – technology, rackets, the string. Absolutely.
“Here’s why: tennis is a game of inches from one era to another and the mental part, playing the big points, delivering the goods and getting your serve in on an AD-point.
“These are microscopic things that happen in a tennis match and I’m just a firm believer of their technical base and their movement base – the guys I just mentioned – was so good and their athletic base was so good. But mentally, they were a cut above, that’s why they won all those Grand Slams.
“So yeah, that would be a street fight like no other if you had all those guys in. Now when you start throwing… you go back farther and you start talking about players, it’s hard for me to even go there because they hit the ball very differently. Whether it be [Jimmy] Connors, [John] McEnroe, [Bjorn] Borg — you can’t even go down that.
“I could maybe even throw [Andre] Agassi into this mix, you never know. But I wouldn’t go too far back. But 100%, because they have it between the ears, champions know how to deliver at crunch time.”
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer make up the top three for the most men’s Grand Slam titles in tennis history with 24, 22 and 20 respectively. Alcaraz has won five majors, while Sinner sits on four.
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The post Are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz matching peak Djokovic, Nadal & Federer’s level? Rick Macci weighs in appeared first on Tennis365.
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