Two respected voices rate Alcaraz's forehand at the very top. Only one of them thinks it is the best the sport has seen.
Forehands make for an excellent argument because they can be judged with the eye and defended with statistics. This week, two well-known tennis voices have weighed in on the same shot. According to Yahoo Sports, in a report dated 9 October, Patrick Mouratoglou was asked on Instagram to choose between the forehands of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. His answer was brief: “Very close. I’ll still go with Alcaraz.”
Mouratoglou: close, but Alcaraz
The wording is revealing. “Very close” concedes that Sinner’s forehand is a genuine rival, and “I’ll still go with” is the language of someone who has made a judgement call rather than stating a fact. Mouratoglou, who coached Serena Williams and now works as a coach and commentator, has the credentials to rate strokes, but it is a preference expressed on social media. The report notes that the exact date of the post is not given.
Henman: the greatest the sport has seen
Tim Henman went considerably further. The same report says that, while analysing Alcaraz’s return from injury during the US Open, Henman described the Spaniard’s forehand as the best the sport has ever seen, ahead of those of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro. We are paraphrasing that claim, because the article does not quote Henman’s words directly. It adds that Sinner may be the only current ATP player whose forehand can rival Alcaraz’s.
That is a bold statement, and it is worth separating the two claims. Mouratoglou is ranking two contemporaries. Henman is ranking a still-developing player against three of the most celebrated forehands in the sport’s history. The first is a matter of taste among peers; the second invites a longer argument about eras, equipment and what “best” means.
The counter-argument
The obvious objection to Henman is the same as for any comparison across generations. Federer’s forehand was a weapon over two decades; Nadal’s shaped how the modern game is played; del Potro’s, when healthy, was as destructive as any. Alcaraz has a shorter record, and he has already had interruptions. A fair counter-view is that the shot may be the most spectacular in the game today without yet having earned a place above those names.
The strongest case for Henman is simpler. If the question is about the stroke itself, power, disguise, variety and the ability to hit it from anywhere, then it is reasonable to say that the finished product is already extraordinary. But that is a claim about quality, not about career achievement, and the two are easily confused.
What the data says about the rivalry
The comparison with Sinner is where the debate is most useful, because both players are at the top of the sport. Mouratoglou’s “very close” is probably the fairest summary. The question of who has the better forehand may depend on what you value: Sinner’s compact precision against Alcaraz’s range and imagination.
It is also a debate that may have to wait. Sinner has ended his 2026 season with a knee problem, so there will be no more head-to-heads this year. Meanwhile, a season in which Alcaraz overcame a wrist injury, which is part of the backdrop to Victor Hanescu’s “lack ambition” claim, has given his supporters plenty to point to.
The verdict
Mouratoglou’s pick is easy to accept. Henman’s is a harder sell, but he is entitled to make it, and the fact that a former British No. 1 is prepared to put Alcaraz’s forehand in that company says something about the impression it is making. The sensible position is to enjoy the shot now and leave the all-time ranking until there is a longer body of work to judge.
Mouratoglou’s quotation is taken from the Yahoo Sports report linked above. Henman’s view is paraphrased from the same report.
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