"Almost impossible" – Fernando Verdasco doubts Carlos Alcaraz can match Nadal’s Grand Slam record

The recently retired Fernando Verdasco believes it is ‘almost impossible’ for Carlos Alcaraz to match Rafael Nadal’s record of winning 22 Grand Slam titles. The former world No. 7 spoke about the dominance he expects from Carlitos and Jannik Sinner.

Verdasco had a great career on the ATP Tour, reaching world No. 7 in 2009, making the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, and winning seven singles titles—including the ATP 500 Barcelona Open—and eight doubles titles, including the ATP Finals in 2013.

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This week, Verdasco returned to tennis for one final time at the Qatar Open, bidding farewell on the court after not playing a match since 2022. The Spaniard partnered with none other than Novak Djokovic in doubles, reaching the second round before being defeated by second seeds Patten/Heliövaara, officially closing his career.

The 41-year-old former player shared his thoughts after the match on the current state of tennis and the shift of power after the Big 3 era.“Alcaraz and Sinner are like Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], and him [Novak Djokovic], you know,” he said. “In the end, they are the two biggest guys now, above the rest.

“You can see them a bit above the rest, and you can see that they are the guys that they will be more likely fighting for the big titles over and over again,” Verdasco added. “Even more when Novak retires, I don’t know, maybe this year, maybe next year, whenever.”

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Verdasco did not hesitate to emphasize that Alcaraz and Sinner are ahead of the rest of the field on the Tour. “At the moment, they are the two guys who look like they will be fighting for every Grand Slam,” the 41-year-old stated. “Great players are also there, like Stefanos [Tsitsipas], like [Daniil] Medvedev, like [Andrey] Rublev, all these guys have been around for a few more years than Sinner and Alcaraz,” he said.

“It’s kind of like Roger, Rafa, and Novak, you could see back in the time that these guys were a bit different from the rest, you know, so that’s why they were like winning all the big titles, Grand Slams, at least, Masters maybe.”

Nadal and Alcaraz played doubles together at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Regarding the comparisons between Nadal and Alcaraz, Verdasco mentioned that it is "almost impossible" for the world No. 3 to match Nadal’s Grand Slam tally. ‘Carlitos’ currently has four Grand Slam trophies, while Nadal retired with a total of 22.

“They always ask me, do you think Alcaraz is going to win the same Grand Slams as Nadal?” said Verdasco. “I’m like, listen, what I can say is that it’s almost impossible because, to win 22 Grand Slams, you don’t need to be so smart, it’s just that you have to be winning like two, three Grand Slams every year for like so many years."

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“So as soon as you have like maybe a surgery or maybe a physical problem, it makes it almost impossible, you know,” he added. “Like the average of these guys of be winning Grand Slams year after year after year is, it’s unbelievable, it’s out of this world. So, obviously, for me, it’s hard to, if you tell me they will win it, nowadays when they are like 21, they have three, I see a long way to get it, you know, but who knows.”

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