“They play slower”-Patrick Mouratoglou & Nick Kyrgios weigh in comparisons between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s game with Sinner and Alcaraz

July 18, 2025

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Coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Australian player Nick Kyrgios discussed Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s tennis with the prime Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. While Mouratoglou sided with the new generation players for their speed, Kyrgios backed the luminaries.

Patrick Mouratoglou, who has been coaching Naomi Osaka since 2024 and served as the legendary Serena Williams’ coach from 2012 to 2022, has often shared his views on players and everything tennis. He recently sat with the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, Kyrgios, on the UTS Tour talk show to discuss their careers and opine on the top-ranked players, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

Osaka’s coach felt that the era of Sinner and Alcaraz is more fast-paced than the time when Nadal and Federer dominated.

"Generally speaking, I think the game as the game keeps evolving, and I think as I told you, I watched the final of Roland Garros and you did and then I saw the final of on grass Federer and Nadal is so much slower. It is really slower. They play slower. The pace they play is unreal. Unreal." (beginning 27:00)

Kyrgios, on the other hand, disagreed with the French and revealed that the World No. 1 and 2 will need a significant time to match prime Federer and Nadal.

"I think they'll eventually surpass them, but not right now. I don't think they're playing a level now. Not quite."

Mouratoglou then amended his diction and refused to compare eras while also agreeing that Nadal on the clay in his prime is for the history books.

Patrick Mouratoglou silenced John McEnroe's claim that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz beat Nadal on clay

Patrick Mouratoglou at the Championships - Wimbledon 2025 - (Source: Getty)

Patrick Mouratoglou once differed from the legendary John McEnroe when the latter claimed that Sinner and Alcaraz can defeat Nadal, the 'King of Clay', in his signature tournament. He felt that the Spaniard's mastery on clay, which earned him 14 titles, would be hard to contest.

"I don't think that Alcaraz or Sinner would be favorites against Nadal in Roland-Garros because Nadal has a game so different from everybody else, so adapted to clay. I don't know how would they deal with that. So that's why I don't think they can say that. There's no way we can know and considering that this guy won 14 Roland-Garros, it's difficult to think that the year after any of the two finalist would beat him."

Sinner and Alcaraz went head-on again in the 2025 Wimbledon finals, and the former trounced the Spaniard in three sets to claim his maiden title in London.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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