Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas have had their confidence hurt by the Big Three, says Patrick Mouratoglou
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
ByEurosport
Published 25/11/2022 at 10:31 GMT
The Big Three of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have dominated men's tennis for almost two decades and have won 63 major titles combined. Patrick Mouratoglou believes the Big Three's dominance has dented the confidence of players such as Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas who now have the new challenge of beating the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune to Grand Slam titles.
'I sucked' - Medvedev on three straight defeats at ATP Finals
Patrick Mouratoglou believes Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have failed to win more Grand Slams because their confidence has been hurt by continually playing the Big Three.
Medvedev has won just one Grand Slam in his career, the US Open in 2021, while world No. 4 Tsitsipas is still searching for his first major title. The closest the Greek has come was a French Open final in 2021, but he lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets.
Mouratoglou, who used to coach 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and is part of Tsitsipas and Holger Rune's coaching teams, believes the younger generation of tennis players have been "unlucky" to be playing at a time when Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer have dominated the sport with a combined total of 286 career titles.
"They were unlucky, the generation of Medvedev, Tsitsipas etc, because they had to still face the big Rafa, and big Novak and they lost a lot against them so it kinda hurt their confidence,” he said in an Instagram video.
“The younger generation, Holger and [Carlos] Alcaraz, for the moment haven’t had to face that, so they still have that believe they can do anything, which is their asset."
In 2022 Carlos Alcaraz has risen to No. 1 in the ATP rankings and lifted the US Open title in September - his first Grand Slam title - aged 19.
Mouratoglou thinks the generation of players after the likes of Medvedev and Tsitsipas starring Alcaraz, Rune and Jannik Sinner will create a "big fight" for Grand Slam titles. Federer retired from tennis after the Laver Cup in September while Djokovic and Nadal are in the final stages of their decorated careers.
The Frenchman said: "I don’t believe that the generation of Tsitsipas, Medvedev, and those guys will be completely erased and that is the new generation of Holger, Alcaraz and Sinner and so on that will only win Grand Slams."
"I think there is going to be a big fight between two generations in the future. No generation – and there has been so many – has ever succeeded taking out Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. None. They are the three greatest of all times.
"Now it’s a very interesting moment because they are not as dominant, they are not playing as many tournaments and there is a new generation coming up and there is a second new generation coming up.
"The new generation coming up is the Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Rublev etc, and the [second] new one is the Holger, Carlos Alcaraz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, [Jannik] Sinner etc.
"They are two different generations that are going to play against each other for many years, try to win Grand Slams and that makes it super exciting and interesting. Is the new generation better than the less new generation? I don’t know and we will see.”
- - -
Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement