“You have to find a way to win in the era you are given” : why winning a major just as hard now as it was in days of the Big 3
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga claims it is easier to win a Slam now than when he was playing in the era of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. This statement needs to be challenged by facts and current players’ viewpoints.
Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz, Turin 2025 | © Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP/SIPA
Winning a Grand Slam title is not meant to be easy. Coming out on top after seven matches over two weeks, played out over the best of five sets, is incredibly gruelling, physically and mentally.
In the era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, it was almost impossible for anyone else to win one, the trio mopping up 66 of the 81 majors to be played from Wimbledon in 2003 – Federer’s first win – to the 2023 US Open, the 24th of Djokovic’s titles.
When first Federer and then Nadal retired, a stack of players, led by Alexander Zverev, must have felt this was their big chance. The next few years, it was presumed, would see many players share around the majors. But Djokovic was still there and then along came Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner and the door closed once more. The pair have split the last eight slams between them and don’t appear likely to let their domination slip anytime soon.
Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka both won three slams apiece in the Big 3 era, leaving only nine other men to pick up a major over a 20-year period, while a slew of others who never quite made it were left cursing their luck at being born in the same generation.
Tsonga: “ALCARAZ & SINNER are the only two in the field”
One among those was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Frenchman who reached one Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open in 2008, beating Nadal in the semis but then losing to Djokovic. Now retired, Tsonga recently raised his head above the parapet, suggesting that winning a slam in his time was more difficult than it is now.
Talking about Alcaraz for the digital media Univers Tennis, he said: “He is definitely a complete (player). Really. But is he stronger than these players (the Big 3) in any aspect? Physically? Mentally? We really don’t have a clue. I would have like to see Alcaraz win Roland-Garros defeating (Juan Martin) Del Potro third round, Wawrinka fourth, Djokovic quarter-final, Nadal semi-final and Federer final. That I would like to see. Because today, they (Sinner and him) are dominating like hell. But if I shall say, they are (the) only two in the field.”
Is there a hint of bitterness in Tsonga’s words? Maybe. In addition to his one final, the Frenchman made four major semi-finals, losing once to Djokovic, once to Murray, once to Wawrinka and perhaps most painfully of all, once to David Ferrer, at Roland-Garros.
But is it really easier to win a Major now than it was then? ‘No,’ answered Patrick Mouratoglou on social media, sparking a massive ‘battle of stories,’ comments, and replies between the two Frenchmen the week before the Australian Open. ‘Sorry Jo, but I’m not sure you would beat [players like Draper, Rune, De Minaur, Fritz, Shelton, and Auger-Aliassime] on a regular basis,’ he said, asserting: ‘No credit should be taken from Alcaraz and Sinner. Their level is unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.
Firstly, no one has won a Grand Slam beating as many top players in a row as Tsonga mentions. Pete Sampras’s 1990 US Open victory was incredible; he beat Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi to win the title, while Juan Martin Del Potro beat Marin Cilic, Nadal and then Federer to win the US Open in 2009. Wawrinka beat Djokovic in the quarters and Nadal in the final in Australia in 2014. He also beat Federer, Tsonga and Djokovic to win in Paris the following year.
But comparing eras is almost impossible and even within the same era, players peak at different times. And you only have to beat who’s in front of you on any given day, not the whole field.
Secondly, his intimation is not only that the depth is stronger – I think that’s what he’s saying – but also that tennis was better in those days. That’s a bold assertion to make, given that even the most biased of observers would admit that tennis in 2026 is played out faster and harder than ever.
Zverev: “Tennis has got faster and better”
Zverev first reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in 2018, a year in which the majors were won by Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Djokovic again. The German had a taste of the Big 3 and is now the No 3 behind the new Big 2 of Alcaraz and Sinner. That puts him in an ideal position to judge the comparison between the two eras.
“It’s a more complicated question because back then the slams were kind of set,” Zverev said. “Australia, Novak was winning. Roland-Garros was kind of Rafa’s slam to lose. Wimbledon it was always between Roger and Novak. There were not maybe as many openings. That does not mean that tennis is worse now. I think tennis got better. I think tennis got quicker, faster, more physical.
“But I think players were kind of thinking that way where, you know, the first three of the slams were set and the only one to play for was kind of the US Open maybe a little bit.
“At the same time, the last two years all four majors were going to Sinner and Alcaraz all the time. Maybe it changes this year. I hope it changes this year, of course. But it’s just different to compare and to think about.”
If Tsonga is talking about depth, it’s worth looking at the rankings now compared to how they were around 10 years ago. Of the current top 10, only three men have won a major; Alcaraz (6), Sinner (4) and Djokovic (24). At the end of 2015, the top five had all won majors; Djokovic, Murray, Federer, Wawrinka and Nadal.
Wawrinka says it is pointless to try to compare.
“I don’t compare generations, I enjoy them,” he said. “I enjoy watching them. I enjoyed playing them, too. I see that as a fan of tennis in general. The level has been amazing to watch those 20 years with different generations. As a competitor, it’s been amazing to face them. Always a big challenge. I think the level has been unbelievable with Sinner and Alcaraz last year. They’re going to keep going into that direction. As a fan of tennis, you can only enjoy that.”
For Zverev, the homogenisation of the court surfaces is a factor.
“I think the surfaces got much more similar to each other, where (now) anybody can beat anyone on every surface, where back then it wasn’t the case,” Zverev said. “We’ll see how the next few years play out. I think the last two years showed us that Carlos and Jannik are dominating. Maybe it’s going to change.”
Medvedev: “They just play better tennis than other guys”
Daniil Medvedev has multiple wins over both Sinner and Alcaraz and won the US Open in 2021. The Russian admits that the pair have elevated themselves above the rest but still feels there is a possibility to win.
“Jannik and Carlos, it’s tough, they just play better tennis than other guys,” he said, having defeated Alcaraz at the US Open 2023 and Sinner at Wimbledon 2024. “I think what is important is that I played a lot of big names in tennis, and you can beat anyone on a given day.
“I’m not shy to say that if we play like 20 matches against Carlos and Jannik, let’s say 10 with each of them, I’ll probably lose a lot of them, but I’m going to try my best in every of them to win. And again, out of 10 matches, you can win some, I’m not going to say a number, but you can win. They can have a bit of an off day. I did beat both of them in Grand Slams in different tournaments.
“Again, they are best two players in the world. Probably no one right now to challenge them on the consistent base, but one match, they can always lose.”
Beating Alcaraz and Sinner in semis and final the hardest part
In Tsonga’s day, it used to be said that the biggest problem was that to win a Grand Slam, you had to beat at least one, maybe two and even all three of the big guns. With the exception of Wawrinka and Del Potro, as already outlined, all the other winners of slams in that 2003-2023 era “only” beat one of them at most.
Such is their domination and consistency that winning a slam now means almost certainly beating one of Sinner and Alcaraz, and most likely both. No one else has won any tournament in which both men were entered since March 2024, when Andrey Rublev took the title. (Sinner withdrew before his quarter-final). They so rarely play bad matches that it’s only injury, or perhaps even cramping, that would seem to be the only thing stopping them from winning again.
And the biggest problem, as Djokovic pointed out, is that players have to beat them in the semi-finals and final, since they’re the top two seeds. That’s after playing five matches, by which time fatigue may be a factor, which makes an upset even more difficult.
Others will come forward to challenge the top two in time – Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca look the most likely – but for now, beating the top two in a slam looks just as hard as it did when Tsonga was trying to beat the Big 3.
Daniil Medvedev doesn’t know if Tsonga is right or not. But he knows what he doesn’t want to be after his career. “I don’t want to be the guy that, in 10 years, will sit in a chair and say, ‘It was so much harder to win in my times because I had to play the Big Three, and now these guys have it easy.’ No. And even if I think this way, I won’t say it. Because in the end, you have to find a way to win in the era you are given.”
