Boris Becker harshly called out eight players by name as the German tennis icon believes some are "content" with just making the deeper stages of Grand Slams and not bothering themselves much with the fact that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are splitting the main prizes between them.
At the Australian Open, Sinner routed Alexander Zverev in straight sets in the final. The remaining three Grand Slams featured a Sinner and Alcaraz final. Since the start of 2024, eight Majors have taken place and the Italian and the Spaniard have split victories between them.
Outside of Alcaraz and Sinner, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic has been the most consistent player at the Slam level - he reached the semifinal in all four Majors this year but didn't have an answer for the two top-ranked players in the game.
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Sharing his thoughts on what has been happening on the Grand Slam scene for the past two years, Becker very directly stated that players such as Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, Jack Draper, and some others need to step up.
Becker: The rest are content with the second or third role
The statistic for Djokovic against Fritz is 11-0. Not for the American. What kind of gap is there, sportingly speaking? How good or not good are the others? I'm talking about everyone else. It's an incredible statistic with the eighth consecutive Grand Slam victory for either Alcaraz or Sinner. But where the hell are the rest? We're talking about Zverev, Draper, Fritz, de Minaur, Ruud, Rune, Medvedev, Rublev," the former six-time Major winner said on the Becker-Petkovic podcast.
"Something about the rest, that theyre content with the second or third role. Quarterfinals are okay, semifinals are okay.' No, it's not okay if you want to become the best tennis player in the world."
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The last player to win a Grand Slam besides Alcaraz and Sinner was Djokovic, at the 2023 US Open. Those three are the only current top-10 members with a Slam win.
