'It took a while to digest': Mats Wilander hails Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz rivalry as 'one of the best' ever

Former world number one Mats Wilander has once again praised Italy’s Jannik Sinner and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. Both are regarded as the best players in men’s tennis currently and have produced some incredible performances in the recent past.

Sinner and Alcaraz shared the last six Grand Slam titles. They featured in the final of the French Open, where Alcaraz came out in an epic five-set thriller with a score of 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. That match lasted more than five hours and officially became the second-longest final in the history of Grand Slams in the Open era.

Wilander has recently spoken to TNT Sports, where he praised both Sinner and Alcaraz and believes that they are taking sports to a level it has never seen before. Wilander stated that he remembers watching the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal play, but watching Sinner and Alcaraz play in the final of the French Open reminded him that it was ‘probably’ the best tennis match he had ever watched. Wilander was of the opinion that both Alcaraz and Sinner could become one of the all-time greats of the game.

"It took a while to digest and realise that that was most probably the best tennis match that I’ve ever seen in terms of drama and in terms of the level," said Wilander. "Obviously, you can never count out Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for a couple of years at Wimbledon because they were intriguing in a very different way because of the contrast of styles. But in terms of level, I must say this is most probably the best one. I think we have a rivalry just like the Federer-Nadal and Nadal-Djokovic, where every single match that they play will be dramatic in some way. The level will be so high that I think we’re going to see it over and over again, and we’re going to get used to it and just have to realise that this is a very, very special rivalry we have in front of us. I think we have to start to understand that we are actually watching somebody who could become among the greatest players of all time in both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. And the other thing that I really love is the way they’re taking our game! It’s not towards just keeping the ball in play. It’s not towards just coming to the net on everything. It’s being super aggressive all the time. There are certain players on tour that are not playing like that, and they have to reshape their game if they’re going to stay with [them]. Because Alcaraz and Sinner are taking it in a direction where it’s never been before, and it’s not coming back."