Tennis icon drops massive statement on Sinner and Alcaraz domination: 'If Nadal and Federer and were still around...'

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been ruling men’s tennis for the last two years now, with the each of the last eight Grand Slams having been won by one of these two young stars. The gulf between ‘Sincaraz’ and the rest of the field – 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic included – can be gauged from the fact that the final of the last three Grand Slams have featured these two young stars.

Reacting to their meteoric rise in the sport over the last couple of years, American tennis legend Jimmy Connors feels Sinner and Alcaraz could have taken on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, winner of 22 and 20 Grand Slams respectively, in their prime.

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“What I like is that the two guys, Sinner and Alcaraz, they know that that is their time. Even if Nadal and Federer and were still around too, they would want to say, ‘Move over, boys.’ I like that,” the eight-time Grand Slam champion said on the Advantage Connors podcast.

“They have raised their game to that level. The other guys out there playing, they didn’t do that. They were waiting around for them to retire or something to happen and say, ‘Oh, it’s my turn now.’ Well, maybe it’s not. But these two guys, they are head and shoulders (above the rest),” he added.

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Alcaraz had fought back from two sets down to defeat Sinner in an epic French Open final in June. The Italian, however, bounced back against the Spaniard the following month, denying Alcaraz a hat-trick of Wimbledon titles in the process.

Alcaraz and Sinner had defeated Djokovic and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime respectively in the semi-finals of the French Open last week, the f ormer defeating the Serbian icon in straight sets while denying him a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam.

Alcaraz would then go on to win his second US Open title three years after winning his maiden Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows, defeating Sinner 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4 to win his sixth major.