Toni Nadal stated that the current version of Novak Djokovic is well below that of 5 to 10 years ago and that the current ATP roster is inferior in comparison to a few years back.
In a blunt assessment of the current state of men's tennis in a written column on El Pais, the ex-coach of Rafael Nadal held no punches. The lack of widespread consistency at the top level is alarming, according to Toni Nadal, adding that the pace at which tennis is played nowadays leads to many mistakes.
Testament to his words is the number of shocking defeats happening frequently in tennis tournaments. Already at the 2023 US Open, half of the Top 20 seeds failed to progress beyond the third-round stage.
With the exception of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, Toni Nadal admits players today are only focused on hitting the ball very hard at the expense of losing control of points.
"The speed at which it is played today encourages many mistakes to be made and makes it much more difficult to chain different tournaments playing well. Only Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz get it. The surprise results are happening too often."
"Today's tennis is much more focused on hitting the ball very hard to the detriment of giving it control and this, of course, makes it very difficult to make a difference, but also to see better matches."
Toni Nadal then singled out retired star Roger Federer and current sensation Carlos Alcaraz as the leaders of the past and current generations.
36-year-old Djokovic hasn't shown any signs of stepping away having been an evergreen presence in the Federer and now Alcaraz era. But the 62-year-old believes the Serbian is well below his level in comparison to a decade ago. According to Toni, former players from the yesteryears are better than the current roster.
"We have placed Roger Federer and Alcaraz as the two leaders of yesteryear and today. The rest of the panorama that has been revealed to us has given a fairly clear advantage in favor of those of the previous decade."
"The current Djokovic is well below that of five or ten years ago. Without a doubt, Rafael would surpass Daniil Medvedev. Andy Murray would be better than Alexander Zverev and Stanislas Wawrinka would be better than Casper Ruud. Juan Martín del Potro would pass Andrey Rublev and I think it is clear that David Ferrer would do the same with Holger Rune."
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