Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been the three most dominant tennis players on the planet for over two decades. However former pro Diego Schwartzman believes that young contender Jannik Sinner is actually more intimidating to face than any of modern tennis’ holy trinity.
The Argentinian faced Sinner on four occasions and lost all four battles against the Italian – perhaps an indication into why he believes Sinner is so menacing to play against. Sinner is on his way to tennis immortality after the 23-year-old has already won the Australian and US Open.
He has also reached the semi-finals of both Wimbledon and at Roland Garros. When asked who he believed is the most intimidating player on the tour on the Nothing Major Podcast, the French Open semi-finalist opted to award the title to the Italian maestro.
He also revealed that, despite the ‘god’-like status of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, Sinner and his young rival Carlos Alcaraz are taking tennis in a new direction with their physicality. “Let’s choose one of the new guys. I think Sinner,” Schwartman said. “I played him a few times. He wasn’t even top 10 yet. I was saying ‘Come on… what is this guy?’ Sliding, power.. movement.. everything.
“It’s scary. It’s crazy because we played against Novak, Roger, Rafa. These guys are Gods. But Sinner and Alcaraz… what they do with their bodies is crazy.”
Despite his bold claim, the 32-year-old hasn’t fared much better against the legendary trio either with Schwartzman winning just one match in the 22 he played against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. Schwartzman faced Federer four times in his career and lost them all.
He went up against Nadal on eleven occasions and did manage to beat the Spanish legend on one occasion. The Argentinian also struggled to get any joy out of Djokovic with the Serbian winning all seven matches he played against Schwartzman.
American pro Taylor Fritz does share Schwartman’s take on Sinner. However he also included Alcaraz in the mix when discussing who he thinks is the toughest player to face. “I did feel Jannik maybe can serve a bit better, he said. “I was always being rushed and moved, and I definitely felt like I had less breathing room against Carlos. But I mean, both are insane players.”
Djokovic will soon be the only player left of the iconic trio still playing after Nadal called time on his career recently.Federer retired from the game in 2022. However, many players over the years have insisted that it’s tough to separate the three legends.
Slovakian star Martin Klizan claimed both Nadal and Djokovic made life very tough for him on the tour. However he never had the chance to face Federer. “With Rafa you know that he is always going to make the match hell for you. Nothing is free,” Klizan told Punto De Break. “With Novak you know that you have to be very precise in your shots, if you don’t get it, he is going to destroy you.”
Andy Murray, the player often heralded as the man to land just outside of the trio, claimed Djokovic is the player he would choose if pushed, saying: “What all those guys have achieved is amazing. If you just go on Grand Slam titles, then you’d have to give that to Novak but for me, it’s just slightly more nuanced than that.”
Former Czech star Tomas Berdych opted for Federer, claiming: “I think Roger will leave a bigger mark than Djokovic. I think he is a bigger icon than Nadal.” Three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka stated that all three have attributes that makes them hard to set apart. Yet he did claim that Djokovic had a ‘perfect’ element to his game.
“If we’re just talking about the game, for me Roger Federer it’s really talent, ease and touch. Rafael Nadal, it’s strength, power and Novak Djokovic is a bit of perfection,” Wawrinka said.
