Wimbledon winner Nicolas Mahut has nailed his colours to the mast in a Roger Federer versus Carlos Alcaraz debate. Federer was the men’s champion at the All England Club an incredible eight times during a glittering career, which featured 20 Grand Slam titles overall.

Defending champion Alcaraz has some way to go before matching the Swiss icon, but is already well on his way after beating Novak Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals. The 22-year-old remains on course for a hat-trick of SW19 titles and faces American Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals on Friday after knocking out Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Alcaraz’s breathtaking early success on the hallowed grass courts has naturally led to comparisons with Federer. But Mahut, who won both the boys’ singles and men’s doubles at Wimbledon, insists Federer is by “by far” the best grass court player of all time.

The Frenchman, 43, also brought up seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, telling L’Equipe: “On the question of the greatest servers on grass, we forget too quickly that Pete Sampras has won the trophy seven times in eight years and we forget Roger Federer, by far the number one in my opinion, with 12 finals in 16 years in the temple.

“I don’t think Carlos can ever dethrone him in terms of numbers. Because in addition to his eight Wimbledons, Roger also has 10 Halle [German grass court tournament] titles to his name.”

Mahut, who won four ATP singles titles, still has immense respect for Alcaraz and expects the Spaniard to win many more Wimbledon titles thanks to his all-around brilliance. He added: “Will he continue to win ‘Wim’? Yes, probably.

“What’s already quite impressive is the evolution of his serve, which has just taken him into another dimension on this surface. At Queen’s [which Alcaraz won], I saw the technical modifications he made to this shot. He’s becoming monstrous at serving too, with a more direct gesture, especially in his racket lift.

“His preparation and balance have changed as well. It’s the mark of the greatest who manage to evolve their shots significantly during their careers.”

Mahut, who lost in the first round of the men’s doubles at this year’s Wimbledon, added: “He will never serve or volley like Federer or Sampras, and he will never return like Novak Djokovic, but he can do everything at an incredible level. His stats on grass also show his effectiveness in return games.”

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Mahut acknowledged Alcaraz’s habit of making harder work of matches he should win comfortably. He said: “At times, if he’s not 100% focused, it can slip away a bit with small lapses in concentration. And since he’s very playful, he can sometimes overdo it and get carried away.

“But as soon as he switches ‘on’, you might feel like you’re at the bottom of a hill next to [Tadej] Pogacar, who accelerates and then remains alone in the world in a snap of fingers. Sometimes there’s no one who can follow him. ”

“It’s not necessarily his return quality itself but what he does afterwards. He has such an insane range of skills, such quick movement, with great mastery of footing on grass.

“He immediately tamed the contact between his feet and the grass. That’s very surprising, generally, [because] the first years are tricky in this regard.”