Retired ATP Pro Arnaud Clément downplayed Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Andrey Rublev while lavishing praise on Jannik Sinner. The 2001 Australian Open finalist claimed the trio will not be winning any Grand Slams in the near future.
Clément hailed Sinner’s evolution into a world-class player over the last year. After a watershed 2023 season that saw him win his first ATP 1000 title and the Davis Cup, the Italian bagged his first Grand Slam. He navigated a difficult path to the title, featuring Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, to lift the 2024 Australian Open trophy.
Speaking to L’Equipe, Clément waxed lyrical about how much Sinner has grown as a player. He believed that the World No.4 had improved so much that he had left behind Tsitsipas, Zverev, and Rublev.
“I don’t put Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev or Rublev in the same category as him anymore. I can’t see those guys lifting a Grand Slam trophy yet.”
The Frenchman said Sinner is a much more ‘complete’ player now, having worked on his weaknesses from the previous years. He praised the 22-year-old for improving his physicality and intensity.
“To beat the best, you need to be a complete player. And he’s much more complete than he used to be. A year ago, you could see that he could improve on his second serve. And he has. He’s changed his stroke, which is more compact. Before, he could dip physically in tough matches. Today, he can keep up with the distance and intensity. We also saw, particularly at the Masters, that he wanted to come to the net more.”
The trio of Zverev, Tsitsipas, and Rublev, part of the so-called ‘Next Gen’, were tipped to take over from the Big 3. Despite otherwise decent careers, a Grand Slam title evades all of them. Hence, they have earned the unenviable tag of the ‘lost generation’.
‘Failed to evolve like Jannik Sinner’ – Arnaud Clément singles out Andrey Rublev
While Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have reached Grand Slam finals and also won the ATP Finals, Andrey Rublev has a much less glittering CV. Despite being the highest-ranked currently, the World No.5’s trophy cabinet is significantly smaller. He has never made it past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.
This could be why Arnaud Clément singled out Rublev for more criticism. The former World No.10 said the current top 4 is at a level of their own, away from the rest of the top 10. He said Jannik Sinner made great progress to rise and get to that elite level. He went on to slam Rublev, saying the Russian has failed to evolve. Clément said he still makes the same mistakes, which is why he cannot move up, unlike Sinner.
“I’ll take the example of Andrey Rublev, who’s ranked 5th in the world. We know how strong he is on the baseline, but his tennis has not evolved at all. He still has the same shortcomings: his serve, the fact that he hardly ever comes to the net, where he can be clumsy… Nothing like Sinner.”
With his 2024 Australian Open triumph, Jannik Sinner signalled his intentions to take over the baton from the old guard. The lost generation failed to satisfactorily do so, and now young prodigies like the Italian and Carlos Alcaraz are stepping up.
