Daniil Medvedev: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner a cut above the rest of the field

The former world No. 1 made the admission after sweeping aside Japan's Sho Shimabukuro 6-2, 6-1 in just 52 minutes at the Almaty Open, where he is defending his title. The victory continued a campaign that has seen the Russian return to the world's top five following a difficult 2025.

However, Medvedev believes Alcaraz and Sinner still operate at a higher level when both are fully fit, acknowledging the challenge of competing against them consistently.

His record reflects that difficulty, with Alcaraz leading their head-to-head rivalry 6-3 and Sinner holding a 10-7 advantage across 17 meetings.

Nevertheless, Medvedev has enjoyed notable successes against both players. His latest triumph over Alcaraz came at Indian Wells in March, ending the Spaniard's unbeaten start to the season.

"Probably not, they're much stronger than the rest of the field for the whole season if they're not injured of course, which is part of the game," said Medvedev.

"But I always said, you know probably you play a lot of matches against Alcaraz and Sinner, and you're going to lose more than you win. And that's normal, because they're like in a good way, freaks.

"They know how to do stuff that other people don't, but if you can win two out of 10, three out of 10, and then maybe four out of 10 or maybe five out of 10, you try. Every time you go out there, you try.

"But again, when they're healthy, they have proven it throughout the whole year that they are number one and number two in the world, in whichever order. It's part of the game also to be healthy and this year that was not the case." 

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