Ljubicic guesses Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune are the new 'Big 3'
"Alcaraz has progressed so fast in the last 12 months, and Rune has also made great progress," coach Ljubicic told the Tennis Major on August 6. "In the next five years, Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune will be number one, number two and number three in the world. Medvedev will also be there and try to make their careers difficult."
Among the three young talents highly appreciated by Ljubicic, Alcaraz won two Grand Slams despite being only 20 years old, Sinner has just reached the semifinals of Wimbledon, and Rune has also reached the quarterfinals of Grand Slam three times. At last month's grass-court Grand Slam, Alcaraz eliminated Rune in the quarterfinals and Sinner lost to Novak Djokovic in the fourth round of the strongest player.
Besides Djokovic, Sinner is a rare person who makes it difficult for Alcaraz in most confrontations. At the US Open 2022, Alcaraz had to save the match-point to defeat Sinner in the quarterfinals before winning. In seven confrontations between the two young talents, Alcaraz won four matches.
"Last year, I was a bit disappointed because Sinner didn't get to play many important games," added coach Ljubicic. "He's regularly in the quarterfinals of Grand Slams, but he needs more big games to break through. This year he did what he should have done last year."
Coach Ljubicic has six years of leading Federer - a member of the legendary "Big 3", alongside Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Many experts also share the same opinion with the Croatian strategist about the new "Big 3". Even so, Rune admitted that it was too early to put him on this list.
"Everybody talks about the new Big 3, but the only one of us who's ever won a Grand Slam is Alcaraz," the Danish tennis player said. "Of course, we are young and have plenty of time to improve."
Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune all feature at the ATP 1000 Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada this week. All three were exempt from the first round as top 8 seeds. In the second round, Sinner faced compatriot Matteo Berrettini, Rune was likely to face Emil Ruusuvuori and Alcaraz could face Ben Shelton or Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
