Medvedev: Probably Impossible to Break Alcaraz and Sinner Stronghold

By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, January 4, 2026
Photo credit: Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner occupy rare air at the top of the ATP rankings.

Former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev suggests it’s mission impossible to displace the world’s top two in 2026.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Brisbane International, Medvedev said there’s a simple reason why the New Two met in an Open Era record three consecutive Grand Slam finals last season: They’re better than everyone else chasing them.

“I think they are stronger than everyone, and even I saw some stats, I think it was when Sinner lost in quarters of Roland Garros, I would not remember the year, he was super young, he was the youngest in the quarterfinal,” Medvedev said. “They showed, and his baseline strokes’ power was stronger than everyone, and Rafa was there at the time.”

Add up each element of their games, combine their results, Medvedev asserts, and you come to the conclusion that toppling the top two is too tough.

“So, hey, when someone hits stronger than you, puts everything in the court, runs definitely not slower than you, serves not worse than you, it’s tough to beat him,” Medvedev said. “But you can always try. But in terms of consistency that they both showed last year, it’s probably almost impossible for anyone to get to this No. 2 spot.

“But then, you know, the slams is the most important, and they were in all the finals — no. Three out of four finals last year. But you can always beat them in one match.”

Three-time Australian Open finalist Medvedev said everyone can have a bad day at work so the goal is to try to beat Alcaraz and Sinner in one match.

“Probably if you play, like, 10 matches, probably not going to get a lot of wins, but you can always beat them in one match, and that’s the goal whenever you play them,” Medvedev said.