By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, October 20, 2025
Photo credit: Julien De Rosa/AFP/Getty
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga isn’t ready to crown the New Two ahead of the Big 3 just yet.
Former world No. 5 Tsonga is one of only three men in history to beat each of the Big 4—Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray—in a Grand Slam match.
Appearing as a guest on Univers Tennis podcast over the weekend, Tsonga was asked if he agrees with Hall of Famer John McEnroe, who has called Carlos Alcaraz the best young talent he’s ever seen and praised the world No. 1 as one of the most gifted all-around athletes tennis has ever seen.
Tsonga provided a nuanced answer, praising Alcaraz as a complete player, but questioning if Alcaraz and world No. 2 Jannik Sinner could dominate the sport now if they had to beat the likes of the Big 4 and Juan Martin del Potro to win Slams.
“Honestly, it’s true that [Alcaraz] is developing more,” Tsonga said. “He’s a really complete player—really complete.
“Is he stronger than those players [Federer, Djokovic, Nadal] today? Mentally, physically, well we don’t really know.
“What I would have liked to see is Alcaraz win Roland Garros, but by beating del Potro in the fourth round, [Federer] in the quarterfinals, Djokovic in the semifinals and Nadal in the final, That’s what I would have liked to see in real life. Because today he dominates head and shoulders and there they have two of them for the moment he has a rival [in Sinner.]”
Alcaraz and Sinner has combined to collect the past eight straight Grand Slam championships and made Open Era history squaring off in three consecutive major finals this season. Nick Kyrgios and McEnroe are among the players predicting Alcaraz can eventually equal or potentially surpass Grand Slam king Djokovic’s record of 24 major championships. However, Tsonga isn’t so sure that’s a given.
“Let’s hope it lasts and they can do it for 15 years,” Tsonga said of Alcaraz and Sinner. “That way they will equal the Federers, the Nadals, the Djokovics.
“There you go, but it’s not done yet. They must see it as a bit of a mountain and yet they might get there. But for now, I think in their minds, it’s step by step. Win six Grand Slams, I imagine they would have already signed on the bottom line for that, you know, at their age.
“Frankly, they are potentially capable of it once again, but life has things in store for us that we don’t know about.”
Tsonga’s comments on Alcaraz and Sinner start at about the 22-minute mark of the video above. While the interview is conducted in French, you can follow with English subtitles.
Asked if any current French player reminds him of himself, Tsonga says there are similarities of Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard’s style and his own, but points out obvious differences as well.
“Well in terms of game style, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard,” Tsonga said. “Well I don’t think we have similar games because he’s taller than me. But it’s true that there are some similarities in the games.
“In any case, he’s a player where I am, it’s a project that I find quite exciting because there is some sick potential [in Mpetshi Perricard]. And then there wouldn’t be much missing for him to be very, very difficult to play.”
French hero Yannick Noah, who captured the 1983 Roland Garros crown, remains the only Frenchman in the Open Era to win a major title. Tsonga cites Ugo Humbert, Arthur Fils and Mpetshi Perricard as three primary players with a shot to end France’s men’s Grand Slam title drought.
“You have to be optimistic. There are players who are potentially good,” former Australian Open finalist Tsonga said. “The story goes—and I am the first to know it—is that when I arrived no matter what people said, whether I was good or not, I wanted to win a Grand Slam. And in the end, I didn’t win it. So in reality, there you go.
“The objective, obviously, for these [young players] today is to go and blow it up. But I think the first objective, above all, is to have a career where when they stop they frankly won’t have much to regret….
“All of them, whether it’s Ugo Humbert, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Arthur Fils, there are others who are coming and pushing. There is Moutet, Rinderknech, Valentin Royer, Bonzi. All of these players are players who have a little potential and who can do something good, especially the younger ones who have even more potential, who will be moldable.”
