Former World No. 1 and tennis legend Mats Wilander thinks that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are playing better tennis than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic did.
The Big Three is the most iconic tennis phenomenon that ever existed, and for a very good reason. Never in history were there three players as good as them playing at the same time and competing week in, week out.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic—those are the players. Each one of them is good enough to be considered the best in history, and now imagine having three players like that competing every week.
We didn’t have to because it actually happened. Many tennis fans are very nostalgic for the Big Three era and feel protective of that time. There is a good reason: for almost 20 years, it's what dominated the sport.
There was no tennis without these players, but that era has been fading for a while. Federer retired two years ago, and Nadal is also heading towards retirement.
Djokovic is still competing, but even he is not really at his peak. His matches with Alcaraz and Sinner this year proved he's very beatable, and 'beatable' is not something that most fans associate with the Big Three.
However, former legendary player, Mats Wilander, recently made a comment recently that infuriated many fans who remember the peak of the Big Three era, as he stated that at their peak, Alcaraz and Sinner are better.
"When Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way anyone has ever played better tennis."
It's an interesting statement, and it is certainly a good one for a debate among tennis fans, but very few would agree with the Swede. The nostalgia is too strong for that.
However, he explained what makes it so exciting for him. It's not the first comment full of praise he has made about these upcoming players, but it might be the spiciest.
"Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner put on such a great, entertaining show. To me, it's up there with the absolute best sporting events ever. It keeps happening every single time they play."
"They come up with suspense, they come up with entertainment. What you see with them is that the match can go any direction. Either of them can win. Neither of them are intimidated by the other person."
He then further cemented his own position, which will certainly make him infamous in the Big Three fandom circles. To his credit, he qualified his statement by saying that he hopes the Big Three are not listening, which might imply that he's not entirely sold on this either.
"They are following in the footsteps of the 'Big Three' in terms of level. I hope Roger, Novak, and Rafa are not listening, but in terms of level, when Sinner and Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way anyone has ever played better tennis, that the tennis ball has done more different, complicated, difficult things than the ball is doing between Sinner and Alcaraz."