Patrick Mouratoglou believes the new generation of tennis stars, including Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Holger Rune, are close to matching Novak Djokovic's level.
Alcaraz, Sinner, and Rune have each defeated Djokovic at least once during the 2023 season and are tipped to carry the sport for the foreseeable future. But when all was said and done this year, Djokovic was still miles clear at the top in terms of points and titles.
The Serbian ace finished the year as world No. 1 for the eighth time in his career - a men's record - and bagged seven titles from 12 tournament participations last season. In terms of consistency and productivity, 2023 was undoubtedly one of Novak Djokovic's best-ever seasons.
As the new wave of stars attempts to dethrone him from the summit, thanks to world-class coaching and motivation to improve, Mouratoglou states that Djokovic's dominance will end only when the trio can step up and beat him regularly.
That wasn't the case in 2023 when the 36-year-old nearly completed a clean sweep of the Grand Slams. He won three of tennis' most prized assets and was a runner-up at the one he missed out on.
In terms of level, Alcaraz, Sinner, and Rune are very much on par with Djokovic, but at the same time "far," according to Mouratoglou, who spoke to Eurosport during the UTS Grand Final and opined that the World No. 1's competitive and mental strength set him apart from them.
"They are close, but they are far. They are close in terms of level. Carlos beat Novak in the final of Wimbledon, Holger beat him two times, one time last year and one time this year.
'So the level is really good. The level of tennis is very close to his. Now what makes the difference is still his ability to compete and his mental strength, that puts him still in a way, way above, because if you look at his season he won three Grand Slams and reached the final at the other. So we cannot say that they are a threat yet, not constantly, not on a regular basis."
"Once in a while, yes. That's where they have to make the big progress. They have to be able to step up on those matches and beat him, but he's the most difficult player to beat in the history. So it's not a simple thing to do, but definitely those three guys have the potential to stay at the top of the game for a while I think."
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