'When I played against Jannik, I didn't play anything special' - Richard Gasquet believes the Italian is below the level of the Big Three

World No.1 Jannik Sinner has been the most dominant player on the ATP Tour in the last two years, leading several in the tennis community to laud him as being on the same level, if not better than the trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. However, French veteran Richard Gasquet does not believe this to be the case.

Sinner won the Australian Open in January, before serving a three-month suspension for testing positive for Clostebol, a banned substance. Upon his return, the Italian reached the final of both the Rome Open and French Open, losing to rival Carlos Alcaraz on both occasions.

Nadal was ruthless in Paris, says Gasquet

Nonetheless, Sinner's form has been almost impeccable over the last year. The 23-year old has held onto the World No.1 ranking for over 52 straight weeks, winning three Grand Slam titles in the process. This has led a few pundits like Jon McEnroe to state that the Italian could defeat Nadal at his prime at Roland Garros.

French player Richard Gasquet, who recently announced his retirement at Roland Garros this month, is of a different opinion. The former World No.7 faced Sinner in his final match as an ATP professional in front of his home crowd at Roland Garros, with the Italian recording a 6-3 6-0 6-4 win. The 39-year old believes Sinner is yet to reach the level of the legendary Big three.

"It's hard to say," began Gasquet. "Nadal had incredible quality. I am convinced that at Roland Garros at his best level he would be above Sinner and Alcaraz. When I played against Jannik, I didn't play anything special. I am 39 years old. If I played against Rafa at the same level, he wouldn't have given me more than two games."

Furthermore, Gasquet compared Sinner to Djokovic, highlighting Sinner's progress but admitted the Italian still had some way to go before catching up to the Serbian in his prime.

"I played against Novak in 2015, when I was ranked tenth in the world," added Gasquet. "I lost 6:2, 6:2, 6:3. And then I was at the top level. Sinner is amazing, but I think he's still below the big three. Of course, he will progress.
"This season, Djokovic is not playing at the same level as a few years ago, but he still defeated Alcaraz at the Australian Open. On the other hand, Jannik is 23 years old and Carlos is 22. We will have to wait until they reach their peak. Federer played better at 27-28 than at 22."