{"id":2052,"date":"2026-04-19T16:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2052"},"modified":"2026-04-19T16:00:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T16:00:49","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-and-jannik-sinner-get-unfavourable-big-4-comparison-from-former-world-no-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=2052","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner get unfavourable \u2018Big 4\u2019 comparison from former world No 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jamie Murray believes claims that Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> and Jannik Sinner<\/a> are a step or two ahead of the game\u2019s all-time greats are premature.<\/p>\n

Tennis greats from John McEnroe to Mats Wilander sparked a huge debate when they suggested the two players who have dominated the Grand Slam events over the last two years are playing at a higher level than Roger Federer<\/a>, Rafael Nadal,<\/a> Novak Djokovic<\/a> and Murray\u2019s younger brother Andy.<\/a><\/p>\n

The quartet that dominated the men\u2019s game for two decades won a staggering 69 Grand Slam titles between them, with Alcaraz and Sinner a long way behind the original \u2018Big Four\u2019 at the formative stage of their careers.<\/p>\n

Now former doubles No 1 Murray<\/a>, who announced his retirement from tennis last Tuesday, has insisted it is too early to place Alcaraz and Sinner among the game\u2019s true legends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never say who is better or not, but until those guys [Alcaraz and Sinner] get up to 18, 19, 20 Grand Slams, it\u2019s tough to say that those other guys [Big 4] weren\u2019t the greatest,\u201d said Murray on the latest edition of the Off Court with Greg Rusedski podcast, that will be released on Monday.<\/a><\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

ATP Rankings No 1 battle: Jannik Sinner has a chance to take dominant lead over Carlos Alcaraz<\/a><\/p>\n

Two-time Grand Slam champion says Alcaraz-Sinner rivals lack ambition, backs Zverev to win a Grand Slam<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got the numbers to back it up. Is there a good chance they\u2019ll catch them? Right now you have to say it is, but know, Alcaraz has seven right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s still 17 away from Novak. People think, oh yeah, but he can win three a year for the next, you know, five years. But that\u2019s not easy to do that!<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also players that we don\u2019t know about that are going to come through and challenge those guys and you\u2019ve got to stay fit and healthy and motivated. There\u2019s so much that goes into it. I personally will be surprised if those guys play until they are 38, 39, 40. I don\u2019t think they will do because of the nature of the tour now, but we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former British No 1 Rusedski responded to Murray\u2019s comments, as he suggested Alcaraz and Sinner still have so much to prove before they can match the \u2018Big 4\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s an interesting conversation because the fact they\u2019re on pace, especially Alcaraz to catch Novak,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinner reminds me of Djokovic 2.0. The guy just doesn\u2019t miss and hits the ball harder than Novak and keeps on becoming complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think every generation gets a little bit better as a player just because you have better science, you have better technology, the game changes and shifts.<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I will always look at the numbers and winning as many Grand Slams as Djokovic, Nadal and Federer will not be easy. For me, Novak will always be the GOAT until someone wins more Grand Slams than him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlcaraz and Sinner could do that, but they need to carry on winning at the rate they have done over the last couple of years for the next ten years at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Jannik Sinner backed to \u2018win more Grand Slams\u2019 than Carlos Alcaraz by former top 20 player<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner get unfavourable \u2018Big 4\u2019 comparison from former world No 1<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jamie Murray believes claims that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are a step or two ahead of the game\u2019s all-time greats are premature. Tennis greats from John McEnroe to Mats Wilander sparked a huge debate when they suggested the two players who have dominated the Grand Slam events over the last two years are playing […]<\/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-2052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052","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=2052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}