Toni Nadal is blunt about Jannik Sinner’s era

Toni Nadal has never been one to mince words, and Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach stayed true to form in an interview with Euronews, in which he described the current state of world tennis in no uncertain terms. According to Toni, the current era—led by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz—is not as competitive as that of the Big Three.

“Carlos and Jannik are incredibly talented players, followed by Alexander Zverev, who is also a very strong player, even if he’s slipped a bit. The real problem is that in the past, the players behind the Big Three (Rafa, Federer, Djokovic) were players who could perform at the very highest level even in the most important tournaments. Andy Murray, for example, was an impressive player, as was Juan Martin del Potro despite his wrist problem, and then David Ferrer was always there, Stan Wawrinka… Today, however, many stay in the top spots of the rankings for two years and then fall apart: in my opinion, they lose the motivation to fight in every match.”

“Many can play well, but now it’s more common to lose matches to opponents of significantly lower rank. Ferrer, for example, rarely lost to players ranked 80th or 100th, whereas today that often happens to players in the top 10 and top 20. I remember watching Stefanos Tsitsipas a few years ago—he was extraordinary: when he won the Masters and reached the final at Roland Garros, he was very strong. But then I think he lost his motivation and confidence, and today Tsitsipas is far below the level he once had. The same goes for Rublev, Medvedev…”.

In a previous interview with ESPN, Rafa’s uncle had already reiterated the same point in similar terms: “Now you can see a top-10 player lose to the world No. 90, and I don’t like that. In the past, there were more tactical variations, more variety, and changes in pace; now, the focus is largely on hitting the ball as hard as possible.”