Daniil Medvedev came up with some interesting comments when he was asked to share his thoughts on tennis rising stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry has taken the sport by storm as their rivalry has dominated the ATP tour for the last three quarters of the tennis calendar. The Italian clinched his maiden major title at the 2024 Australian Open before taking over Alcaraz and Djokovic to become the World No. 1 for the first time in his career.
Alcaraz menanwhile sealed his Grand Slam title when he won the Roland Garros and became the youngest man to win a major on all tennis surfaces. The pair have brought high quality matches on court with the Murcian winning their most recent clash at the French Open in five sets.
There is no doubt the duo will dominate the sport for many years to come and Medvedev was asked after his R2 match at Wimbledon just how difficult it is to face the Spaniard on the matchcourt.
“Carlos has a very big quality, like power quality. When he was really young, like 17, he could miss a lot. He has these crazy shots, but at least he misses. Now when he’s in the zone, he doesn’t miss much,” the 2011 US Open Champion replied.
“We saw it in Roland Garros. I watched a bit of semi-final and final, not the whole match. You could see that some moments he was missing, struggling. That’s amazing because he played two big, top players, Jannik and Sascha [Zverev]. Even not playing his best and missing, every time he would hit a rocket in the court, the other guy would be in such trouble.
“That’s his big quality, very, very strong shots, doesn’t matter little bit the position. He’s very easy generating power from slow balls, which sometimes many players have trouble. You can use it. You play like a slow ball, you know at least you have the chance to stay in the rally. With Carlos, no. There is no chance. That’s his biggest quality in my opinion.”
The Russian lost the Australian Open final in five sets to Sinner so he is well of Italian’s strengths.
But he does concede that 3-time Grand Slam Champion Alcaraz overwhelms Sinner as a powerhouse.
“A bit different, but kind of same. Big quality of strokes. In a different way, like the motion is different, so the way the ball is coming to you is different. I would say that even if Jannik has very big power, Carlos has even more,” he said.
“Jannik same, he managed to find, since little bit the end of last year, in Canada I would say where he won his first Masters, missing less. We always knew it’s tough to play him. He can hit winners from every position of the court, but he could miss. Now he doesn’t miss much. He can hit winners from every position of the court. It’s not easy.
“In order to beat him, you know you have to step out there, you need to be able to hit winners from any position of the court yourself. You need to be able to support the rally.
“It’s not easy to play them, but it’s a great challenge. They are great champions already of the sport. They have big careers ahead of them to make history.”