But Wawrinka, who was a late-bloomer and won his first Major title aged 28, believes another “special” player will soon threaten Sinner and Alcaraz at the top of the game. “Joao Fonseca has something special: power, personality, and the way he knows how to enjoy the big stage,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Fonseca burst onto the scene last year when he qualified for the Australian Open as a teenager and stunned ninth seed Andrey Rublev on his Grand Slam debut. He picked up a maiden title in Buenos Aires a few weeks later, and won his biggest title at the Swiss Indoors ATP 500 event last October.

This year, the Brazilian suffered tight defeats to Sinner, Alcaraz and Zverev before coming back from two sets down to stun Novak Djokovic in the third round of the French Open. But he has since battled injury problems, ending his season early.

The world No. 41 has an aggressive, power-driven game style – something Wawrinka also had. And the retired Swiss star added: “As for me, I see myself a little in those players who mature later and who play powerful, aggressive tennis.

“I think what separates him from a lot of the other guys in the draw are his power, forehand, backhand, serve, what he's able to bring point for point. He's exciting. He has a good aura. I feel like he's a very likable character as well. I like watching him play. I briefly met him at the Laver Cup. I saw him also courtside and also from the back. It was impressive to see,” the 20-time Grand Slam champion said.

“I just think he's more a little bit like me in the sense he needs a little bit more time to work on his game. Similar to Jannik, as well, to know when to dial back and when to unload his shots. Once he figures that out, obviously the sky's the limit. But obviously I think he's truly one of the guys that can compete for the biggest wins.”