Petchey: "Alcaraz and Sinner are fire and ice 2.0
Mark Petchey, former coach of Andy Murray, talks about the rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. He refutes critics who say that tennis is becoming a boring sport, and compares this rivalry to former legends of the sport.
He says: "I think Alcaraz is without doubt one of the greatest tennis players.
Are you going to say that one of the greatest players in tennis who lights up a tennis court in a way that very few players have done over the years is suddenly boring?
I'll always go back to the Fire and Ice days of Borg and McEnroe. If Bjorn had played Bjorn, nobody would be talking about that era in terms of passion.
Mac brought the passion, Jimmy Connors was the bad boy. Borg the ice cream.
You need great rivalries and different personalities. For me, it's Fire and Ice 2.0 with Jannik and Carlos.
We may not have the trash talk of the 80s, but tennis is actually an incredibly healthy space.
You want to see people trying to win big competitions and showing immense professionalism.
Otherwise, what are we celebrating? Mediocre people."
