The Italian Jannik Sinner and the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz are the best tennis players of our time. They lead the ATP rankings and the title race and have won every Grand Slam tournament in the 2024 season.
Yannick won the Australian Open and the United States Open, Carlos became champion of Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Thus was interrupted the phenomenal streak that had lasted since 2003, when at least one major per season was won by one of the Big Three: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer.
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Sinner and Alcaraz receive a lot of praise. Some even rank them above the Big Three. For example, Mats Wilander, seven-time Grand Slam winner.
“They follow in the footsteps of the Big Three in terms of tennis level. I hope Roger, Novak and Rafa don’t listen to me, but when Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are at their best, no one has played better tennis. Nobody has done such different and complex things with a tennis ball as when Sinner and Alcaraz were hitting it,” says Wilander.
Six-time TBS champion Boris Becker is a little more modest in his assessment of Yannick and Carlos, but he also admires them and compares them to Djokovic and Federer, respectively.
“We can call Sinner and Alcaraz the Djokovic and Federer of the future, even if appropriate footnotes are necessary. Roger and Nole went down in sports history, just like Rafa. Alcaraz’s style of play, in terms of beauty, is more similar to that of the Swiss, although his idol has always been Rafa. Can Yannick ever become as dominant as Nole? Maybe, but don’t put too much pressure on these players’ shoulders: winning 24 Grand Slam titles is superhuman, as is 428 weeks at world No. 1. There is only one Nole, only one Federer and only one Nadal. But I think tennis is in very good hands with these guys.
Now we are left with only one dilemma. All it takes is a new Nadal to complete the new Big Three. And as always, the former player’s number one answer to who that player could be is ready right away: Ben Shelton. At first glance, Holger Rune seemed the most prepared, but he didn’t make much progress this year. On the other hand, I watched Shelton for a long time in the Laver Cup, in singles and doubles, and I liked his attitude. He smiles, he puts on a show, he has fun,” Becker quotes La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
Photo: Shi Tang/Getty Images
Comparing Sinner and Alcaraz to the legendary “Big Three” is really appropriate, but with a certain caveat: you can’t think too far into the future, as players’ careers can go downhill for one reason or another (the main risk is injuries). . However, Carlos and Yannick can easily be compared to Djokovic, Nadal and Federer at the same age.
Alcaraz, 21, has already won four Grand Slam tournaments. At that age, Federer had just made his debut in a major (Wimbledon 2003). Djokovic won his first TBS at the age of 20 (Australian Open – 2008), but won the next title in this category exactly three years later in the same Melbourne. In terms of success at a young age, Nadal is more like Carlos; Before turning 22, he won three TSBs, but all the titles were won on his favorite clay, Roland Garros.
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Alcaraz can easily be considered the most successful young tennis player of all time. Proof of this is not only the TBS won, but also the title of the youngest racket in the world in history. Carlos became her after winning the 2022 US Open at the age of 19. He broke the record of the Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who topped the ATP ranking at the age of 20 in November 2001. Interestingly, Hewitt himself took only two “Helmets” in his career, although very bright prospects were painted for him. Carlos has already surpassed Lleyton, but it is too early to say that he will continue to consistently win TBS and reach the double-digit mark in this indicator. The Spaniard is injured too often, which is a big concern in the long term.
Sinner won his first Slam at age 22 and his second at age 23. Both were on hard courts. Yannick is a lot like Djokovic in this regard. Novak dominated on hard courts for about a decade and a half, and now Sinner is the absolute best player on this surface. It is noteworthy that in personal matches Yannick and Novak are tied (4-4), but the Italian is noticeably superior to the Serbian in hard matches (4-1), and in the last two confrontations Djokovic did not get break points. Sinner’s rise is perhaps the main obstacle for Djokovic to achieve his 25th Slam. In fact, Yannick has “entered his territory” and will be considered the absolute favorite at the Australian Open and the US Open. At one point, Djokovic himself similarly brushed aside Federer on his favorite surfaces. The recent final of the Shanghai Masters was very indicative: Novak had a hard time keeping up with Yannick and gave him the victory quite easily.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Overall, Alcaraz and Sinner can be compared to the “Big Three” at a young age, but what happens next is a big question. Perhaps the Spaniard’s and Italian’s careers will be derailed by injuries or something else (for example, a possible doping disqualification hanging over Sinner). Or it could be that Carlos and Yannick surpass the legends of the past and win more than 25 Slams each if they maintain their current level and avoid serious health problems.
The Big Three competed against each other for about a decade and a half. The difference is that now there is no analogue; Sinner and Alcaraz, in fact, only compete against each other. This is a significant advantage. Boris Becker, in the previous quote, states that the only thing left to do is find a new version of Rafael Nadal. See Ben Shelton in this role, but the 22-year-old American is clearly not up to the role of Sinner and Alcaraz’s competitor. Ben reached the semi-finals of the US Open (2023), which is his best result on TBS. He won two ATP titles: the 500 in Tokyo (2023) and the 250 tournament in Houston (2024). There is no noticeable progress in his game. Rather, there is even some stagnation. Shelton rose to as high as 13th in the ATP rankings in August of this year, is now ranked 17th and is unlikely to crack the top 10 any time soon.
Very often, the 21-year-old Dane Holger Rune was included in the new “Big Three”, but he does not progress at all and even takes a step back on the court. Rune impressed the tennis world with his victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2022 Paris Masters, also adding three quarterfinals in the TBS and a brief stay in fourth place in the ATP rankings. Right now, Rune is only number 14 in the world, and his drop is likely to be even further in the future. By inertia, Holger was included in the list of participants for the prestigious 6 Kings Slam exhibition tournament, which begins in Riyadh on October 16.
The competition will be part of the Riyadh Season cultural and entertainment festival, with players competing for the largest cash prize in tennis history: $6 million. Holger seems clearly out of place in the company of other participants: Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Nadal. , Daniil Medvedev, who for obvious reasons invited Saudi Arabia.
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The 19-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik, who at the recent Shanghai Masters eliminated the top 10 players, Andrei Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov, and also took a set from Djokovic in the quarterfinals, looks promising. Thanks to this result, he rose to 51st place, a record in the ATP ranking.
Not bad for his 19 years, but it’s still hard to believe that Menshik can compete with Sinner and Alcaraz in the fight for the “Cascos” in the near future. Most likely, it will be done by representatives of the “middle generation” Daniil Medvedev (28 years old) and Alexander Zverev (27 years old). Both reached the Slam final this season, but lost in five sets to Sinner and Alcaraz at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, respectively. At the same time, Daniil stopped Sinner at Wimbledon and Alexander knocked out Carlos at the same stage of the Australian Open. On a good day, Medvedev and Zverev can hold their own against Alcaraz and Sinner, but they still lose to them much more often in key matches.
Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev
Photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images for Laver Cup
It is unlikely that any of them can be considered an addition to the new “Big Three”. If Alexander debuts at the Slam before the end of his career and Daniil wins his second or third major, then it is already a good result for them. But Medvedev and Zverev at least continue to play at an elite level, unlike Stefanos Tsitsipas (26 years old), previously mentioned in the same row as them, who completely gave up and dropped out of the top 10.
Maybe there are some glimpses of Casper Ruud (25 years old) and Taylor Fritz (26 years old), who recently played in the TBS finals. Andrei Rublev (26 years old) cannot be ruled out, who could break through if he overcomes the unfortunate barrier of the quarterfinals in the majors. And yet, not all of them seem like serious rivals for Alcaraz and Sinner in the decisive matches.
For now we can only talk about the so-called “Big Two” in the people of Yannick and Carlos. At the initial stage of their careers, in general, they are not particularly worse than Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, and in some aspects they are even superior to them. Can the Spaniard and the Italian dominate the rest of their rivals for a decade and a half? Only time will tell.
