{"id":1718,"date":"2026-02-06T16:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1718"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:28:23","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-goat-debate-declared-ridiculous-as-former-british-no-1-defends-novak-djokovic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1718","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz GOAT debate declared \u2018ridiculous\u2019 as former British No 1 defends Novak Djokovic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> fans have been quick to suggest the world No 1 has taken tennis to the next level after he became the youngest player to win all four Grand Slam titles with his victory at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz\u2019s stunning achievement saw him add the Melbourne title to his collection with a win against Novak Djokovic in the final<\/a>, sparking some to suggest he is on course to eclipse Djokovic as the greatest player of all-time.<\/p>\n

Tennis legend John McEnroe<\/a> was among those who suggested Alcaraz could win 20 or more Grand Slam titles after his latest success, but any suggestion that the young Spaniard can already be part of the debate over who is the greatest player of all-time should be banished, according to former British No 1 Greg Rusedski.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the latest Off Court Cuts edition<\/a> of his podcast, the 1997 US Open finalist didn\u2019t hold back as he insisted Djokovic is in a league of his own when the discussion over the all-time great of tennis is raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is ridiculous in my opinion,\u201d said Rusedski as he responded to the suggestion that Alcaraz is already part of the GOAT debate.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Carlos Alcaraz names his favourite of the four Grand Slam tournaments after historic feat<\/a><\/p>\n

Rotterdam tournament director reveals the moment Carlos Alcaraz gave him some bad news<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s won seven majors, he\u2019s on track, but you\u2019ve got to have a catalog of work to get to 20 plus. Djokovic is on 24, Nadal is on 22 and Federer is on 20. Those are long distance. He would have to win every single Slam this year to get up to 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it would take him at least another two and a half years if he won every single Slam, so I think it\u2019s a little premature [to put Alcaraz in the GOAT debate].<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to define it by something. Numbers, longevity, the era you played in. So let\u2019s look at Novak Djokovic\u2019s story. And that\u2019s why I call him the GOAT.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came along when Federer and Nadal were dominating with Andy Murray. And he went through that generation and said, look, I\u2019m going to stand up to you. I\u2019m going to find a way. And then for a decade, he dominated the sport. The numbers don\u2019t lie. And that\u2019s why I say Djokovic is the GOAT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Mouratoglous has fanned the flames in this debate in recent days, after claiming Alcaraz and his big rival Jannik Sinner are playing at a higher level than Djokovic, Nadal and Federer managed at their peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne match. One result. And suddenly, a big conclusion,\u201d wrote Mouratoglou.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Novak Djokovic\u2019s victory over Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open 2026 semifinal, many of you said: \u201cThis proves the Big 3 were better than Alcaraz and Sinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI disagree; that\u2019s a short view. First, you cannot take one match and turn it into a rule. Before that semifinal, Jannik had won five matches in a row against Novak. That didn\u2019t suddenly disappear because of one result.<\/p>\n

\u201cTennis-wise, I stand by what I\u2019ve said for the last two to three years. Jannik is superior to Novak today in pure tennis terms. He moves faster. He hits harder. He takes the ball earlier. He serves better.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the numbers from that match: 75 per-cent first serves in, 80 per-cent points won behind the first serve, 52 per-cent behind the second. Jannik plays a more modern version of tennis than Novak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suggestion that Alcaraz and Sinner are playing at a higher level than the \u2018Big 3\u2019 drew a response from Nadal, who posted laughing emojis on his Instagram as he hit back at Mourtaoglou.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Rafael Nadal snaps back at Patrick Mouratoglou after contentious online claim<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Carlos Alcaraz GOAT debate declared \u2018ridiculous\u2019 as former British No 1 defends Novak Djokovic<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz fans have been quick to suggest the world No 1 has taken tennis to the next level after he became the youngest player to win all four Grand Slam titles with his victory at the Australian Open. Alcaraz\u2019s stunning achievement saw him add the Melbourne title to his collection with a win against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}