Casper Ruud has described the dominance of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at the top of men’s tennis as ‘a little bit annoying’, as he paid tribute to two champions at the top of the ATP Rankings.
Sinner and Alcaraz have separated themselves from the chasing pack over the last couple of years, with Ruud and the rest left to pick up the scraps they are leaving behind in the sport’s biggest tournaments.
Now Ruud has given his verdict on how the rest of men’s tennis feel, as he also joined the debate over whether Sinner and Alcaraz have taken tennis to the next level after starting a new era following the end of the years that saw Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic rewrite the record books.
Intriguingly, Ruud believes Sinner and Alcaraz are striking the ball harder than Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, in comments that add to an always compelling comparison between the best five players in men’s tennis in the 21st Century.
“You can discuss back and forth as much as you want about different eras, but the fact for me is that Sinner and Alcaraz hit the ball with more speed than the ‘Big 3’ did,” Ruud told Tennis365, ahead of his appearance at the UTS Grand Finals in London.
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“Rafa always went full out on his forehand, but he had more spin on his backhand and now we have Carlos and Jannik… no side is a weakness. It doesn’t matter if its the backhand or forehand, they will rip it. Also, they move well, physically. They just move great.
“Jannik could always rip the ball, but one are he has taken to the next level is his movement. You see him sliding, defending anywhere on the court. The same with Carlos and I feel they defend in a way that Novak did.
“You feel like you have them on the defence and in one shot, they are on the offensive again. It has been really, really impressive and at times a little bit annoying how good they have become, but you just have to accept it and we just have to do better to beat them.”
Ruud would have been one of the players hoping the end of the Federer, Nadal and Djokovic era would have opened the door for them to challenge for the biggest titles in tennis and that may be why he used the word ‘annoying’ to describe the dominance of Sinner and Alcaraz.
Casper Ruud at the 2023 UTS Grand Final in London
Yet he doesn’t believe they will continue to win all the Grand Slam titles indefinitely, even though they have won claimed all eight of the biggest tournaments in the sport between them over the last couple of years.
“We all spoke about the day when Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were not there any more and we would have new champions of Grand Slams, but that has not been the case because of those two,” he added.
“Maybe they (Sinner and Alcaraz) had the same idea when the Big 3 were not there any more. They maybe felt this was the time for us to shine.
“But I still believe over the next five to ten years, you will have several Grand Slam champions and guys that can bring it to them.”
Ruud is playing at the UTS Grand Finals in London this weekend, as the dynamic brand of tennis devised by coaching guru Patrick Mouratoglou is set to be played out in front of big crowds at London’s Copper Box Arena.
There are still a few tickets left for the day and night sessions on Saturday and Sunday, as Ruud is joined by star names like Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev and Francisco Cerundolo competing for a prize fund of $1,865,000.