Andy Murray
Andy Murray believes rising stars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will “win a number of majors each”, but he doesn’t think they will equal or better the number of Grand Slam titles won by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Alcaraz has already won two majors as he followed up his 2022 US Open title with the Wimbledon trophy last year while Sinner became the newest Slam champion in January after winning the Australian Open.
Many believe the pair will go on to dominate the sport as they have already overtaken the previous generation featuring Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitispas in terms of majors as the trio have won only three Grand Slams between them.
During a recent press conference at the Qatar Open, former world No 1 Murray was asked if there is a difference in the mindset between the two generations of players and he replied that the Alcaraz-Sinner era of players have it slightly easier as they don’t have to compete against the Big Three in their prime.
“The Medvedev sort of generation has also been a little bit unfortunate, as well, that they were also coming up against, you know, in the early part of their career, like, Roger, Rafa, Novak, and still Novak, were still competing right at the top of the game,” he said.
“I obviously know how difficult it was to win major titles with those guys still competing. I don’t think it’s a negative on them, but yeah, they’re maybe just not quite as good as Rafa, Roger, and Novak. You know, lots of people, that would have happened in many generations, not just this one. They just have been a little bit unfortunate.
“The younger generation are brilliant players. Alcaraz, amazing player. Sinner, obviously brilliant as well. And there will be more young guys coming through.
“But, as well, Roger stopped recently. Rafa has obviously been out injured. Novak has been the one, you know, to beat, and he’s 37 years old. So at some stage there’s going to be a dip and the younger players will capitalise on that and build and gain confidence from winning major events.”
Djokovic leads the way in terms of most Grand Slams won in tennis as he sits on 24 with Nadal second on 22 with Federer on 20.
Will Alcaraz and Sinner reach the Big Three levels?
Andy Murray added: “Once you have won one or two, yeah, we’ll see how far those guys can go. But I would expect them to win a number of majors each. Not 20 to 24 but certainly multiple majors.”
