'Close, but far' - Patrick Mouratoglou explains how Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune can catch Novak Djokovic
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Updated 15/12/2023 at 14:54 GMT
The 2024 tennis season will start with Novak Djokovic as the favourite to win the Australian Open. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune look like the leaders of the next generation and renowned coach Patrick Mouratoglou has told Eurosport what they need to do to challenge Djokovic. Mouratoglou has also reflected on Rune's rise and Rafael Nadal's return to tennis.
Djokovic: When Sinner and Alcaraz 'start to kick my butt' I'll consider retirement
Patrick Mouratoglou has highlighted where Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune need to make “big progress” to threaten Novak Djokovic’s dominance.
Djokovic was the standout player on the ATP Tour in 2023, winning three Grand Slam titles and losing in the final at Wimbledon.
He also finished as year-end No. 1 for a record-extending eighth time.
Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune all beat Djokovic over the course of the season and look to be the potential future leaders of men’s tennis.
However, Mouratoglou, former coach of Serena Williams and Rune, thinks there is still a significant gap to be closed.
“They are close, but they are far,” he told Eurosport ahead of this week’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown final in London, which can be seen live on TNT Sports and discovery+.
“They are close in terms of level. Carlos beat Novak in the final of Wimbledon, Holger beat him two times, one time last year and one time this year.
“So the level is really good. The level of tennis is very close to his. Now what makes the difference is still his ability to compete and his mental strength, that puts him still in a way, way above, because if you look at his season he won three Grand Slams and reached the final at the other. So we cannot say that they are a threat yet, not constantly, not on a regular basis.
“Once in a while, yes. That's where they have to make the big progress. They have to be able to step up on those matches and beat him, but he's the most difficult player to beat in the history. So it's not a simple thing to do, but definitely those three guys have the potential to stay at the top of the game for a while I think.”
Rune joined the Mouratoglou Academy in 2016 and won his first Masters 1000 title last year with Mouratoglou as his coach.
He started this season positively before a big dip in results after making the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
He then appeared to rediscover his game after hiring Boris Becker as his coach in October.
“The progress was incredible,” said Mouratoglou.
“If you remember, just over a year ago he was at No. 30 in the world. And now I feel that he has come back to his best level, to the level he was playing last year during the indoor season, or even this year during the clay season.
“If you look at his results on clay, he was playing top three in the world, and same when he was playing the indoor season. I think he came back to that level. That's what I feel from the last matches I've seen him play.
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Patrick Mouratoglou (R) and Holger Rune
Image credit: Getty Images
“I think the partnership with Boris is working well. I can see he feels good. If he looks confident again, he looks to have found his game again. So I expect from him to play really great first at UTS this weekend and then next year.”
Asked if he could see Rune competing for Grand Slams next year, Mouratoglou added: “For sure.
“I see four guys that are really contending. The first one for sure is Novak, but the three others [Alcaraz, Sinner, Rune] they are definitely potential Grand Slams winners next year.”
'Nadal will always be dangerous'
One of the big intrigues ahead of the 2024 season is Rafael Nadal’s return.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played since losing in the second round of the Australian Open earlier this year and underwent hip surgery in the summer.
Looking ahead to Nadal’s return, Mouratoglou said: “The thing that is difficult with him is that we don't know how he feels in his body, only he knows. And this will play a big part in what he will be able to achieve in 2024.
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“The fact that he wants to play the Australian Open, there are two explanations. The first one is maybe he thinks it's his last year and he wants to play. But the second can be if he feels good, because if he wouldn't feel that good, he would probably go skip it and go straight to clay, probably in South America and get ready for Roland-Garros, which will be for sure the most important tournament of his season, because that's the Grand Slam he has the best chance to win.”
Nadal, who turns 38 in June, has said this could be his last season on tour.
While there are plenty of unknowns after nearly a year out, Mouratoglou thinks if he is healthy then he will be “dangerous”.
“The fact that he was out for so long makes people feel that probably his body is not great, considering his age and the fact that again he had to stop for so long,” he said.
“But if he feels good physically, he will always be dangerous. It's going to be interesting because now the young guys have progressed a lot while he was out of the courts.
“So I'm really looking forward to seeing those young guys play against him and see how we can do against them with such a long absence also.”
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