“Who can stop them?” Tennis legend Rod Laver posed the question Sunday, one that now dominates the tennis world, after Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Jannik Sinner at the US Open further cemented their grip on the men’s circuit.
Neither the Spanish artist nor the Italian metronome has yet achieved the calendar Grand Slam, unlike their illustrious Australian predecessor who won the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open in 1962 and 1969.
But none of the last eight majors have eluded them, with Alcaraz and Sinner winning four apiece.
By facing each other successively in the finals of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open, the two giants became the first pair of players in the professional era (launched in 1968) to contest three Grand Slam title matches in a single season.
ATP Rankings Gap
The ATP rankings also reveal a wide gulf between the duo and their pursuers.
Dethroned by Alcaraz after his New York triumph, which earned the Spaniard 2,000 points, the new world No. 2 Jannik Sinner still holds nearly a 5,000-point lead over No. 3 Alexander Zverev.
“What they’ve accomplished over the last two years is remarkable,” acknowledged Novak Djokovic in late August in New York, the last man to win a Grand Slam title before the dawn of the Italo-Spanish duopoly at the 2023 US Open.
The final active member of the “Big 3” (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Djokovic), the 38-year-old Serb has a front-row seat to this generational handover at the top of world tennis.
“Their rivalry is tremendous (…) for our sport, and it looks set to last,” said Djokovic, who has been denied a record 25th Grand Slam title for two years by the emergence of the two giants.
A Third Man?
“Tennis always produces new superstars,” noted Zverev just before the US Open.
“When Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi retired, Roger suddenly appeared, then Rafa, then Novak,” recalled the world No. 3.
Of the two champions dominating the men’s game, Alcaraz is the earlier bloomer. At 22 years and 125 days, he is the second-youngest player in the professional era to amass six Grand Slam titles, just behind Björn Borg (22 years and 32 days). He also became the youngest world No. 1 since the ATP rankings were created in 1973, after winning the US Open in 2022.
At 24, with four Grand Slam titles, Sinner is the youngest player to have contested all four major finals in a single season.
But the road to tennis immortality remains long.
For Alcaraz, it runs through the Australian Open, the one Slam he has yet to win. For Sinner, it is Roland Garros, where Alcaraz traumatized him in early June by saving three match points in the final before snatching the crown.
Neither has won Olympic gold, unlike Nadal (2008) and Djokovic (2024), who defeated Alcaraz in the final at the Paris Games.
And with 36 weeks at world No. 1 for the Spaniard and 65 for the Italian, Djokovic (428), Federer (310), and Sampras (286) have reigned much longer at the top than their successors so far.
Great Expectations
For Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, himself a former world No. 1, “the potential is there” in his protégé. “But nothing is automatic,” he warns.
The Roland Garros final—their first Grand Slam title clash and a magnificent 5-hour, 29-minute battle—already gave them an “unforgettable” place in tennis history, judged Rafael Nadal last Friday in The Athletic.
“I’m curious to see how they evolve, because I think they both have room to improve. And they’re already so good!” relished the former “King of Clay.”
For Djokovic, “there will certainly be other young players” like Holger Rune or Joao Fonseca “who will challenge them. I have sympathy for that third man—it was a bit my situation with Federer and Nadal,” concluded the seasoned Serb.
