Mats Wilander doesn’t change his mind about Jannik Sinner

Carlos Alcaraz&#8217s victory at the 2026 Australian Open brought the number of consecutive Slams won by the pairing with Jannik Sinner to nine: such dominance has not been seen since the Big Three, to whom the duo is often compared and contrasted. The Azure’s defeat against Novak Djokovic has reignited the debate on the issue, and former tennis champion Mats Wilander in an interview with Tennis 365 wanted to have his say on the debate that is inflaming fans on social media.

Luca Franzosi

“Sinner and Alcaraz have taken the game to the next level for several reasons. I have seen players hit the ball harder than Jannik, but none who hit it as hard and received it as early. Sinner is a genius, no doubt. The combination of receiving early and hitting with such power is what makes Sinner so incredible. It is much harder to hit so hard and with such consistency when you receive so early” explained Wilander, winner of seven majors in his career.

Wilander praised Azure for his particular attitude on the court: “Personally, I had never seen anyone in my tennis career with that combination of power and speed”. But Carlos Alcaraz is also something I have never seen: “You look at Alcaraz and he seems to be on another level. It does not mean they are better than Federer at his best, or Nadal and Djokovic at their best. Maybe they make more mistakes, but the game is faster”.

“Sinner and Alcaraz make more mistakes than Djokovic and Nadal when they were at their best, and perhaps that is why it is so difficult to compare such different eras”, Wilander noted.

Nole showed at the Australian Open that he can still have his say: “I like Novak to be there and test himself against these youngsters, to continue to fuel this debate”.