"Jannik Sinner is Federer & Carlos Alcaraz is Nadal" - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on why Spaniard & Italian are perfect successors of the legendary duo

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have dominated tennis for the better part of the last two years, just like how Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal did so for over a decade before Novak Djokovic came to the scene.

Sinner and Alcaraz have won all the major titles in the last two years, so it's only natural for people to start comparing them to the legendary duel of Federer and Nadal.

In her recent appearance on a podcast in the Russian language, former World No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also chimed in on the comparison, citing a key attribute among all four of them.

"And after the match, this is how I compare them," Pavlyuchenkova said (39:00, translated to English). "Sinner is Federer and Alcaraz is Rafa. That is, it’s just amazing that a replacement actually happened for Federer and Nadal, because it seemed like they were cooler. Well of course they are much cooler, but these young guys have now decently replaced them."

Alcaraz is also from Spain, like Nadal. He's off to a great start in his career, winning six Grand Slams already as he turned 23 this year. He is projected to surpass both Federer (20 Grand Slams) and Nadal (22 Grand Slams) in terms of major championships. Meanwhile, Italy's Jannik Sinner, 24, has also won four Grand Slams and looks like the most formidable tour player currently due to his unreal movement across the court.

Patrick Mouratoglou also compared Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios and Serena Williams' former coach Patrick Mouratoglou have also previously compared Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

According to the coach, Sinner and Alcaraz are playing at a pace and physical standard higher than what Federer and Nadal were at their peak. He believes Sinner has more similar attributes to Novak Djokovic, actually.

"So I think the level of Sinner/Alcaraz is higher than the level of Roger-Rafa, or Roger-Novak at that time," the coach said. "Not incredibly higher, but it's higher. And I always said Sinner is a Novak 2.0, in terms of level, not in terms of achievement."

In another interview, Patrick Mouratoglou said Alcaraz's game is closest to Federer than any of the other two 'Big 3.'

"He combines the qualities of the three greatest players of all time,” Mouratoglou said via Tennis Majors. "I think the one his game is closest to is Federer. Like him, he’s super aggressive and super creative, always trying to do something with the ball. The speed with which he is able to go from the back to the inside of the court, that’s pure Roger. "At the same time, he has the counter-attacking qualities of Djokovic, and he can play long rallies with a lot of spin, like Nadal. To top it off, he serves very well for his size, and he returns very well.”

It remains to be seen if either Sinner or Alcaraz continues their dominance for more than a decade to actually meet the benchmark set by Federer and Nadal.

Edited by Krutik Jain