“Not many that can reach this level, if anyone at all”: Casper Ruud on Sinner, Alcaraz, and the Big Three at their peak
The player who has reached three Grand Slam finals and the ATP Finals places Sinner and Alcaraz at the level the Big Three reached at 25, 26. If not above.
Jannik Sinner and Casper Ruud, Rome final 2026 | © Foto FITP
Casper Ruud has been in the world’s top 10 since 2020, with three Grand Slam finals (Roland-Garros 2022, Roland-Garros 2023, US Open 2022), the ATP Finals last match in 2022, and now, after his 6-4, 6-4 loss to Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s Rome final, his fifth final on the biggest clay stages. He has played Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, and Sinner across his career. Asked on Sunday what separated Sinner from the rest of the men’s tour, Ruud answered in terms that placed him in a specific category.
“He’s an incredible player,” Ruud said. “Me having played all of the top players in the world in my career, when he plays his best, there’s not many that can reach this level – if anyone at all in the world.”
A journalist asked whether Alcaraz belonged in the same group.
“Yeah, I think definitely those two.”
Ruud played all of them
“I never played the big three in their prime,” he added. “I played them in their career, but towards the end of their career. They felt more playable at that time. But I’m sure Roger, Novak, Rafa at 25, 26 years old was also the same feeling for the other players.”
Ruud turned professional in 2015. His first ATP main-draw match was in 2017. By the time he was a top-five player in 2022 and 2023, Federer had retired, Nadal had played his last full season, and Djokovic was finishing his best years. Yet Ruud’s words have value: he has played Nadal, Djokovic, and Alcaraz in a Slam final, and Sinner at the peak of his Masters 1000 run.
“And I don’t see him getting any worse, unfortunately,” Ruud said, smiling. “You just have to think that you have to be better and better, because he’s also going to get better and better.”
Chances at Roland-Garros
Sinner is on a 34-match Masters 1000 winning streak, the all-time record. He has won five consecutive Masters 1000 titles. He completed the Career Golden Masters on Sunday — the second man in history to do so, after Djokovic. He is 24 years old. He has, in the words of the player who lost to him in the Rome final, reached a level only a few in tennis history have ever reached.
Ruud, who is 26, has now played at the highest level of the men’s tour for half a decade without ever defeating Sinner at a Masters 1000 or Grand Slam. Sunday’s loss was his eighth in their head-to-head. His one win came in the round-robin stage of the 2022 ATP Finals, when neither player had reached the level they have now.
The forward look closed the answer. Roland-Garros begins in eight days.
“I think this result can be very crucial and important for my season, the future of the year,” Ruud said. “I didn’t do well in Roland Garros last year [second round loss to Nuno Borges], so I have a few chances coming up. If I can stay focused and stay in the right mindset, I think the next months hopefully can be good for me in terms of my ranking that I can continue to climb.”
The Rome final – his first Masters 1000 final on clay since 2024 – has given him over 600 ranking points and broken what had been, until last week, his first week outside the world’s top 20 in five years. His level might not be Sinner and Alcaraz’s, but it is certainly higher than the No. 20 ranking he will be back at.
