"Everyone just burst out laughing": Pro player admits beating Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner feels impossible

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannik Sinner are known as the two best players in men’s tennis. The two have been extremely dominant in singles tennis, especially since the start of 2024, as they have shared all of the last eight Grand Slams.

Their dominance is also evident from their position in the ATP rankings. As things stand, Alcaraz is number one in the world with 11,540 rating points. Less than 500 points is Sinner, who is in the second spot with 10,950 points. The next player in the rankings is Germany’s Alexander Zverev with less than 6,000 rating points (5,980 to be exact).

In 2025, Alcaraz won the French Open and the US Open titles, whereas Sinner lifted the Australian Open and the Wimbledon titles. The two players faced off in the final of three out of the four Grand Slams as well. Naturally, their dominance has been felt in the locker room as well, something that has been confirmed by America’s young tennis star, Alex Michelsen.

The 21-year-old recently featured in an episode of the Nothing Major podcast, where he discussed various topics related to men’s tennis. Michelsen was asked about whether it is discussed in the locker room about who could be the player to lift the next Grand Slam ahead of Alcaraz and Sinner. In response, Michelsen stated that whenever someone says that, everyone bursts into laughter. Michelsen stated that everyone believes that there is only one player who is capable of pulling off something like that, and that is Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, but he is not getting any younger.

“When someone says, Oh, yeah, I think I can win the US Open, everyone just burst out laughing,” said Michelsen. “I mean, it's just like, there's, there's nothing that us poor guys can do against those guys. As of right now. I mean, it's just, I don't think anyone genuinely believes it anymore. Except maybe except maybe Novak. But I mean, he's, he's not getting any younger. So I mean, but we'll see.”

Michelsen then went on to share the experience of watching Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the Laver Cup, who was representing Team Europe. He also agreed with the host who called him the ‘fastest’ player ever to have played the game.

“I watched a little bit of the Fritz versus Carlos match [at the Laver Cup],” said Michelsen. “And Fritz was just redlining. And when I was watching, he was playing a sick. I didn't really watch too much of the second set. But I watched him Carlos play Cerundolo the next day. And the guy was just hitting the absolute crap out of the ball. And he does makes everything look easy. Like he's so fast when I was playing him in doubles couple of times like I thought like for sure I put that away [but] he's getting there. I'm like, dude, this guy is a joke. I would agree with that for sure [that Alcaraz is the fastest player to have played the game]. I mean, he's a joke. I think in three out of five, him and Sinner are just really tough.”

Michelsen has gone under the radar in his career. Among all American players, he is perhaps the least discussed. Talking about it, Michelsen, who is currently ranked 30th in the world, stated that he loves being ‘under the radar’ and also named another American player who is going through a similar pattern as him, Larner Tien.

“My whole career I've been under the radar,” said Michelsen. “No one no one really knew who I was when I was coming up. And I feel like even now a lot of people don't know who I am. And I like it that way. Honestly, I like being under the radar. I love nothing more. And, you know, I would say Lerner is still pretty under the radar, too. Yes. Even though he's had some fantastic wins this year, I still think he's pretty under the radar. I mean, he should be, you know, more on the radar. He's 19. He's 50 in the world. And he's got how many top 10 wins already. So but yeah, I mean, it's I think it's cool that we have we have a great group of young guys. I know all of them pretty well. You know, I played juniors with all of them. We all kind of came up around the same time. And I, you know, I'm happy. I'm happy for everyone. That's that's kind of doing well around my age. Yeah, I'm not I'm not really salty at all. I don't really care too much what other people are doing or what other people think. I just kind of like doing my own thing.”