'I faced Alcaraz and Sinner at Wimbledon - one lets you breathe, the other suffocates you'

Aleksandar Vukic has suffered the misfortune of meeting two modern-day greats in successive years at Wimbledon. He lost both times, with Carlos Alcaraz thrashing him 7-6 6-2 6-2 last year and Jannik Sinner dishing out a 6-1 6-1 6-3 hammering on Thursday.

But the experience has at least given Vukic a rare insight into what it's like facing the two players leading this generation of men's tennis players forward. Vukic is no slouch. The 29-year-old has been ranked as high as 48th in the world and he made it to the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year.

While Vukic acknowledges that Alcaraz and Sinner are effectively the immovable object and the unstoppable force, he has admitted that the current world No.1 is an even more miserable opponent to face than the reigning Wimbledon champion.

"[They] are definitely at least two levels above everyone else. And it's pretty evident," he said. "Carlos gives you more free points - you can breathe a little bit. Jannik, it's just suffocating. He exposes opponents' weaknesses very easily.

"It's like, I go back to the towel and I feel like I'm in a boxing ring, in the corner, and I just need to go back out there because it's the only way. If I'm at the towel, I feel like I'm shying away from it, so I'm like, okay, I just get back out there and see what happens."

The claim that Alcaraz and Sinner are at least 'two levels above' the rest of the pack may be bad news for Novak Djokovic. The Serb is a seven-time Wimbledon champion and chasing an eighth which would draw him level with Roger Federer at the top of the all-time men's charts.

On top of that, Djokovic is bidding to pull clear of Margaret Court at the top of the all-time Grand Slam charts by winning a 25th title. But he has slipped back to sixth in the ATP rankings due to relative inactivity, and the two young guns have given him problems in the past.

Djokovic's record against Sinner is a negative one, losing five matches and winning four. The last four have all gone the way of the Italian, including one in last month's French Open semi-final, leaving Djokovic without a win against him since 2023.

As the top two seeds, Alcaraz and Sinner will not meet until the Wimbledon final, providing they get there. Djokovic, meanwhile, would be likely to meet Sinner in the semi-finals due to his lower seeding.