“You have to face them and lose”: Juan Martin Del Potro explains path to beating Sinner and Alcaraz

Juan Martín del Potro outlined what it takes to beat Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz: you lose to them, repeatedly. That, he explained, was the path he followed during his career, as one of the few players able to challenge the Big 3 and win a Grand Slam title in the era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

The former US Open champion gradually built that experience through defeats, learning from each one until he became one of the fiercest competitors against the dominant trio. The Argentine recently took part in an exhibition event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he also assessed Joao Fonseca’s potential and defended the importance of the South American swing, amid plans for a new Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia from 2028.

“South America has a beautiful tennis history, all the players say that South American fans are the best, so hopefully they respect that,” Del Potro said in comments to AFP, pointing to the region’s identity within the sport.

He was not alone in that view. The Challenger Latin America Open event also brought together Diego Schwartzman, local player Fernando Meligeni and former world No. 1 Andy Roddick, who similarly praised the region’s tennis tradition.

“In my generation, when I was a junior, you would go to South America and see many of the best players,” Roddick said, according to France24. “I remember the first time I saw Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian. They impressed me. That’s why it’s important to preserve the history not only of Brazilian tennis, but of South American tennis as a whole.”

Among the big names de los sudamericnaos, Joao Fonseca stands out as the player generating the most attention. The Brazilian, still only 19 and already inside the top 40 after titles in Buenos Aires and Basel in 2025, represents a profile well suited to the modern game.

“He’s very young. He has a lot of potential. He has very good shots and the current game is very powerful, so he has that advantage,” Del Potro said, highlighting the attributes that could allow Fonseca to develop further on the main tour.

At the same time, Del Potro pointed to Francisco Cerundolo as the region’s most established presence in the rankings. “He’s been on the tour for many years and he’s getting closer and closer to the top,” he added, emphasising the value of consistency at that level.

Del Potro was direct in his assessment of the current landscape, where Sinner and Alcaraz have set the standard in recent seasons. “It’s not easy to win a Grand Slam. Very few of us could do it in the Big 3 era beyond them, and now I think very few will be able to beat Sinner and Alcaraz. They’ve won the last nine Grand Slams and they look above the rest,” he said.

Rather than framing it as a limitation, Del Potro described the pathway to competing at that level as gradual and experience-based. “Hopefully a Latin player can do it. Many years have passed. There are good Argentine players and Fonseca is there, but he needs time and maturity.”

Drawing from his own career, he outlined the pattern required to eventually challenge the best players on tour. “Until I beat Federer for the first time, I lost six times against him. Against Nadal and Djokovic, the same,” Del Potro said. “You have to face them and lose one, two, three times, and little by little you start to understand their game and gain confidence.”

Del Potro’s own breakthrough remains a reference point for the region. His victory at the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Roger Federer in five sets, ended the Swiss player’s five-year dominance at the tournament and marked a turning point in his career.

“I had the fortune to achieve a childhood dream and beat Federer in the final," the former world No. 3 said. "He had won the tournament five years in a row. Everyone expected the sixth, and I arrived at 20 years old to break that streak. It changed my career, my life."

Looking back at that era, Del Potro was also asked whether he might have won more Grand Slam titles if not for the dominance of the Big 3. The Argentine acknowledged both the difficulty and the uniqueness of competing in that period.

“It’s hard to say, because there were players like Murray, Wawrinka, Berdych and many others,” he said. “At times we would say, ‘Wow, how crazy to play in this era, we got the three best in history.’ But it was also very nice to face them, compete in big tournaments and try to take titles away from them. It was an extra challenge.”