Patrick Mouratoglou has outlined why he believes the leading trio of young ATP stars of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune are both close and far from Novak Djokovic.

The leading coach declared that Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune are all “potential Grand Slams winners next year” but thinks they must make “big progress” to match Djokovic’s mental strength.

World No 2 Alcaraz had a superb year in 2023, winning ATP six titles. The 20-year-old triumphed at Wimbledon with an epic five-set win over Djokovic in July, while he also claimed Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Madrid this season.

Sinner also had a career-best season this year as he won four titles, including the biggest of his career so far at the Canada Masters in August, as well as ATP 500 tournaments in Beijing and Vienna in October.

The 22-year-old Italian, who reached the final of the ATP Finals and led Italy to Davis Cup glory, is currently at career-high ranking of world No 4. World No 8 Rune also had an impressive campaign and was particularly strong during the clay-court season, where he won a title in Munich and was a runner-up at the Monte Carlo Masters and the Italian Open.

Following a seven-match losing streak that started at Wimbledon and ended in Beijing, the 20-year-old Dane ended the season well after hiring tennis great Boris Becker as his coach.

Mouratoglou, a former coach of tennis legend Serena Williams, assessed where the three top young talents in the men’s game stand compared to world No 1 Djokovic.

“They are close, but they are far. They are close in terms of level. Carlos beat Novak in the final of Wimbledon, Holger beat him two times, one time last year and one time this year,” the Frenchman told Eurosport.

“So the level is really good. The level of tennis is very close to his. Now what makes the difference is still his ability to compete and his mental strength, that puts him still in a way, way above, because if you look at his season he won three Grand Slams and reached the final at the other.

So we cannot say that they are a threat yet, not constantly, not on a regular basis. Once in a while, yes. That’s where they have to make the big progress. “They have to be able to step up on those matches and beat him, but he’s the most difficult player to beat in the history. So it’s not a simple thing to do, but definitely those three guys have the potential to stay at the top of the game for a while I think.”

The 53-year-old, who worked with Rune from 2022 until earlier this year, also hailed the development of his former charge and backed his partnership with Becker. “The progress was incredible. If you remember, just over a year ago he was at No 30 in the world. And now I feel that he has come back to his best level, to the level he was playing last year during the indoor season, or even this year during the clay season,” Mouratoglou said.

“If you look at his results on clay, he was playing top three in the world, and same when he was playing the indoor season. I think he came back to that level. That’s what I feel from the last matches I’ve seen him play.

“I think the partnership with Boris is working well. I can see he feels good. If he looks confident again, he looks to have found his game again.”

Mouratoglou was also asked if he could see Rune competing for Grand Slam titles next year.

“For sure,” he added. “I see four guys that are really contending. The first one for sure is Novak, but the three others (Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune) – they are definitely potential Grand Slams winners next year.”