{"id":560123,"date":"2026-05-01T07:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560123\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T07:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:12:14","slug":"carlos-alcaraz-and-jannik-sinner-told-where-they-stand-in-list-of-tennis-greats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560123\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner told where they stand in list of tennis greats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The generation of legends led by Roger Federer<\/a>, Rafael Nadal<\/a> and Novak Djokovic<\/a> set new benchmarks for greatness in tennis, but the champions of the past should not be forgotten when the debate about the all-time greats is considered.<\/p>\n

Prior to Federer becoming the first player to win 20 Grand Slam titles, Pete Sampras was the tennis GOAT as he set a new record of 14 wins in the biggest tournaments in the sport.<\/p>\n

His great rival Andre Agassi was another great of an era that may be overlooked given all that has followed with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic backed up by the game\u2019s current greats, Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> and Jannik Sinner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Players who were playing the greats of the game in the final decade of the last century are well placed to assess the levels being served up by the modern day stars and in the view of former British Davis Cup player Danny Sapsford, the greats of his era performed in a very different sport.<\/p>\n

Sapsford played Sampras in the third round at Wimbledon in 1999 and he suggests the speeds of courts and developments in technology have changed the landscape of the sport in the years since.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s wrist injury has handed tennis a huge problem \u2013 and Jannik Sinner could make it worse<\/a><\/p>\n

Could Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s absence have a negative impact on Jannik Sinner? Grand Slam winner answers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a totally different era, different times. I think everything was a lot quicker. The balls were faster, the courts were faster,\u201d said Sapsford, speaking exclusively to Tennis365 as the leader of the Bright Ideas for Tennis charity.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was more emphasis on serving and dominating from the net. Back in my day, there was a lot of six-foot-four guys like Goran Ivanisevic, Richard Krajicek, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. They were big serving, big brutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the players today\u2026 I\u2019d almost describe them in inverted commas as better tennis players. They are more all-around players. Whereas back in the day, you could get away with, I don\u2019t know, being six foot four and having a massive serve and that won you three-quarters of your matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, if you\u2019ve got slight holes in your game, you\u2019ll be found out. I think the surfaces are too slow and the overall standards are just a little bit too high. Back in our day, I don\u2019t know, it just felt, it felt a little bit easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sapsford compares the era he operated in to the one that followed, he admits the bar was raised several times over by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at Roger, Rafa and Novak topping the rankings for 20 years plus, it was just stupid,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s staggering how they\u2019ve managed to sustain that level over that period of time and Djokovic is still going, which is mind-blowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I guess if Sinner and Alcaraz are still around in 10 or even 15 years and still winning, then you can say, well, yeah, they are as good as those guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut just being top of the game for three or four years, as Sinner and Alcaraz have done, I don\u2019t think that that puts them in the same bracket just yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game always moves on, so they\u2019ve certainly taken the game to a new level. But like I say, it\u2019s whether they can sustain, sustain that dominance over 15 years or something, that will really prove their mettle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sapsford is leading the inspirational Bright Ideas for Tennis charity<\/a> that provides opportunities for people who wouldn\u2019t otherwise get the chance to experience tennis.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz told one of his biggest qualities may have a negative impact on his game<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The generation of legends led by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic set new benchmarks for greatness…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-560123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}