"Such nonsense, illogical & stupid" - Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner fans blast Jo-Wilfried Tsonga over wild Nadal-Djokovic-Federer comparison

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's recent take on Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's present-day dominance in men's tennis prompted several fans to deliver their reactions. While a few agreed with what the now-retired Frenchman had to say, fans of Alcaraz and Sinner vociferously criticized his take.

Tsonga, a former World No. 5 and an 18-time career singles titlist, recently featured as a guest on Univers Tennis, a French tennis podcast. Here, the 40-year-old acknowledged Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's brilliance, but wondered how they would fare if they had to face the likes of Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal back-to-back at the biggest tournaments.

"What I would have liked is to see them (Alcaraz and Sinner) face Del Potro in the 3rd round, Murray in round of 16, Djokovic in quarters, Federer in semis and Nadal in the final. For now, there are only 2 of them," Tsonga said. (translated from French)

Loyal fans of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner on X (formerly Twitter) subsequently lashed out at Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with most of them opining that such assessments are meaningless because apart from Novak Djokovic, the rest of the iconic players the Frenchman mentioned have all retired.

"As Rafa Nadal once said “if this, if that, if, if, if…” history is not made with if and all these comparisons sound such a nonsense and sometimes illogical and stupid. Facts," one fan wrote, referring to a famous quote from the legendary Spaniard. "Absolutely no point of saying something so silly. I have to say that the big 3 (especially Federer) and the big 3 era players are so jealous of Sinner and Carlos. They don’t mind praising Sincaraz normally but they are immediately offended if they are compared to big 3 lol," commented another. "Jealousy talking," another fan chimed in. "Not sure why Alcaraz and Sinner are required to do all of that when literally no one ever faced those five at the same tournament. No one ever faced Murray, Djokovic, Federer and Nadal at the same tournament either," wrote one. "These grandpas need to MOVE ON. Sinner and Alcaraz are as complete players as they get. The sport is evolving which is a GOOD thing. And they can only face those in front of them. We all watched the French Open final. They can hang with any calibre of player in any era," added another. "This notion that a younger generation player need to face the best players of all time to prove themselves is stupid asf," weighed in yet another fan.

Boris Becker slammed Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner's rivals for failing to compete with Spaniard & Italian

Boris Becker (Source: Getty)

Boris Becker, a former No. 1 and six-time singles Major champion, sent a scathing message to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's rivals earlier this year. According to Becker, players close to the Italian and the Spaniard in the ATP Tour rankings, such as Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and others, aren't doing enough to challenge Alcaraz and Sinner's dominance.

Following the Spaniard's title triumph at this year's US Open, Becker said during an episode of the Becker Petkovic podcast:

"It’s an incredible statistic with the eighth consecutive Grand Slam victory for either Alcaraz or Sinner. But where the hell are the rest? We’re talking about Alexander Zverev, Jack Draper, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev."

Since the beginning of the 2024 season, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have both won four Majors each. Three of the four men's singles finals at the Slams this year were contested by the Spaniard and the Italian.

Edited by Sudipto Pati