CNN in Spanish
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The Swiss Roger Federer is an authorized voice to talk about what is happening on the tennis planet.
The former world number 1 and winner of 20 Grand Slam tournament titles is considered by many to be one of the most important players in the history of white sport. In addition, the Swiss starred in one of the most iconic rivalries in the history of sports with the Spanish Rafael Nadal.
However, for a moment, the “Master” of tennis put aside his rivalry against “Rafa” to refer to the new battle that is taking all eyes on the central courts around the world: Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner, which Federer praised highly.
“The rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner, I think it’s a fantastic rivalry,” Federer said during a press conference ahead of the 2026 Australian Open. “All the other players are trying to keep up, while they keep trying to pull away.”
The duel between Alcaraz and Sinner in the final of Roland Garros 2025
Federer took as a reference the five-set final that the young tennis players, and current numbers 1 and 2 in the ATP ranking, played in the 2025 edition of the Grand Slam tournament on clay, Roland Garros, in order to highlight the magnitude of the game produced by this new rivalry.
Back then, the Spaniard made an epic comeback in the fourth set to prevent the Italian from taking the crown in Paris. Subsequently, Alcaraz exhibited a very high level of tennis to take the victory in the fifth set by 4-6, 7-6, 4-6,7-6 and 7-6.
According to Federer, this final set the pace for these two tennis players to continue playing Grand Slam tournament finals last year.
At Wimbledon, Sinner won revenge with a victory in four sets and at the US Open Alcaraz once again made a difference with a victory in a match that was also decided in the fourth set.
“The Roland Garros match is one of the most important matches in our sport,” Federer said. “I think it’s very good that we continue to live off that momentum.”
A question that is on the minds of white sport followers is: “How would a match between Federer and Alcaraz or Federer against Sinner turn out?”
Well, the Swiss has also asked himself this question and found a way to make an estimate, mainly when it comes to the Italian.
Federer indicated that he considers the game of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov to be very similar to his own and that the meeting between Dimitrov and Sinner at Wimbledon could be a reference to what would happen during a match between himself and the Italian.
“That helps me think about what it would have been like, because Grigor plays in a very similar way to the way I used to play,” Federer said. “I think that was one of the first times I thought about what it would be like to play against Jannik in a match situation.”
It should be noted that Sinner took the victory in his match against Dimitrov in London after the Bulgarian retired when the Italian was ahead on the scoreboard 6-3 and 7-5.
On Alcaraz’s side, the former world number 1 said that the idea is clearer if you start to think about what a confrontation between the two would look like. This is because he finds more similarities in the Spanish game with his own.
Federer indicated that this would help him how to select shots depending on Alcaraz’s strategies when it comes to going for short balls, going to the net and playing offensive tennis.
However, Federer highlighted Alcaraz’s moment and referred to the possibility of the current leader of the ATP ranking of achieving his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
“I hope he can do it, because that would be incredible for the sport, a special moment,” Federer said. “But he has over 100 players saying, ‘We don’t agree with that plan,’ and they’re going to try to stop him.”
