Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou has cast doubts about whether the younger generation has the fitness to match the achievements of the ‘Big Three’.
In the world of men’s tennis, Switzerland’s Roger Federer, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic dominated on the court for the good part of the last two decades. It is because of this reason they are labelled as ‘Big Three’.
94.4 - Carlos Alcaraz is 17-1 at Grand Slam events in 2023 with victory over Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz's current GS winning percentage of 94.4% in 2023 is the highest in a calendar year of any male before turning 21 in the Open Era. Elite. #USOpen #USOpen2023 | @usopen @atptour
Mouratoglou was recently quoted in a report where he stated that the likes of Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Denmark’s Holger Rune will only be able to achieve similar achievements if they have the fitness to compete at the highest level.
"One of the main questions is physically, the three guys are very young and have been injured already,” he said. “When you get injured, you leave space, you let space for others to shine and start to build their confidence.
"When you occupy the field, when you’re here, when you’re winning, there’s no space for others. That’s why Novak [Djokovic], Rafa [Nadal], and Roger [Federer], they cut the grass from under the feet of many generations of guys who would’ve been on the top."
"Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Holger Rune are the only three young players of that generation who have the complete package and that’s why they are the three best and the potential Top 3 in the future.
"They’re incredibly ambitious, they’ve won a lot at a very young age, and they have a very complete game. The real question is ‘How are they going to prepare their bodies to be able to reign constantly for a long time?’.”
