So far Yannick and Carlos are dominating all their opponents. Could Ben Shelton, Holger Rune or anyone else join them?
Italian Jannik Sinner and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz are the best tennis players of our time. As İdman.biz reports with reference to the “Championship”, they are leading in the ATP rankings and the championship race and have won all the Grand Slam tournaments in the 2024 season.
Yannick took the Australian Open and US Open, Carlos became the champion of Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Thus, 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, was interrupted.
Sinner and Alcaraz receive many compliments. Some even put them above the Big Three. For example, seven-time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander.
“They continue to follow in the footsteps of the Big Three in terms of the level of tennis. I hope Roger, Novak and Rafa don’t hear me, but when Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are at their peak, no one has ever played better tennis. No one has done such different and complex things with a tennis ball than when Sinner and Alcaraz hit it,” says Wilander.
Six-time TBS champion Boris Becker is a little more modest in his assessment of Yannick and Carlos, but also admires them and compares them with Djokovic and Federer, respectively.
“We can call Sinner and Alcaraz the Djokovic and Federer of the future, even if it is necessary to make appropriate footnotes. Roger and Nole went down in sports history, as did Rafa. Alcaraz’s playing style, on a beauty level, is more similar to the Swiss, although his idol has always been Rafa. Could Yannick ever be as dominant as Nole? Perhaps, but don’t put too much pressure on these players’ shoulders: winning 24 Grand Slam titles is something superhuman, as is 428 weeks at No. 1 in the world. There is only one Nole, only one Federer and only one Nadal. But I think tennis is in really good hands with these guys.
Now we have just one dilemma. All it takes is a new Nadal to complete the new Big Three. And as always, the former No. 1 answer to who that player might be is immediately ready: Ben Shelton. At first glance, Holger Rune seemed the most ready, but this year he did not make much progress. Instead, I watched Shelton for a long time at the Laver Cup, in singles and doubles, and I liked his attitude. He smiles, puts on a show, has fun,” Becker is quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Comparing Sinner and Alcaraz with the legendary “Big Three” is indeed appropriate, but with a certain caveat – you cannot think too far into the future, since the 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.
21-year-old Alcaraz has already won four Grand Slam tournaments. At that age, Federer only achieved his debut major (Wimbledon 2003). Djokovic won his first TBS at the age of 20 (Australian Open – 2008), but he won the next title of this category exactly three years later in the same Melbourne. In terms of success at a young age, Nadal is most similar to Carlos; before he turned 22, he won three TSBs, but all the titles were won on his favorite clay Roland Garros.
Alcaraz can easily be called the most successful young tennis player of all time. This is evidenced not only by the won TBS, but also by the title of the youngest first racket of the world in history. Carlos became her after winning the US Open 2022 at the age of 19. He broke the record of Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who topped the ATP rankings at age 20 in November 2001. Interestingly, the same Hewitt 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 churn out victories at the TBS on a regular basis and reach the double-digit mark in this indicator. The Spaniard is injured too often, which is a big concern for the long term.
Sinner took his first Slam at 22, and his second at 23. Both were on hard court. Yannick is most similar to Djokovic in this regard. Novak dominated on hard court for about a decade and a half, and now Sinner is the absolute best player on this surface. It is noteworthy that Yannick and Novak are tied in personal matches (4-4), but the Italian is noticeably superior to the Serb on hard (4-1), and in the last two confrontations Djokovic did not earn any break points. It is Sinner’s ascent that is perhaps the main obstacle to Djokovic taking his 25th Slam. Yannick has actually “entered his territory” and will be considered the absolute favorite at the Australian Open and US Open. At one time, Djokovic himself pushed aside Federer on his favorite surfaces in a similar way. The recent Masters final in Shanghai was very indicative – Novak had a hard time keeping up with Yannick’s speed, and he gave him the victory quite easily.
In general, Alcaraz and Sinner can be compared with the “Big Three” at an early age, but what will happen next is a big question. Perhaps the careers of the Spaniard and Italian will be derailed by injuries or something else (for example, a potential disqualification for doping hanging over Sinner). Or it could be that Carlos and Yannick will surpass the legends of the past and win 25+ Slams each if they maintain their current level and avoid serious health problems.
The Big Three competed with each other for about a decade and a half. The difference is that now there is no analogue; Sinner and Alcaraz, in fact, compete only with each other. This is a significant advantage. Boris Becker, in the above quote, states that all that remains is to find a new version of Rafael Nadal. He sees Ben Shelton in this role, but the 22-year-old American is clearly not up to the role of a competitor to Sinner and Alcaraz. Ben reached the semifinals of the US Open (2023), which is his best result at the TBS. He took 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 a maximum of 13th place in the ATP rankings in August of this year, he is now in 17th place and is unlikely to soar into the top 10 any time soon.
Very often, 21-year-old Dane Holger Rune was included in the new “Big Three”, but he is not progressing at all and is even taking a step back on the court. Rune impressed the tennis world with his victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of the Masters in Paris in 2022, he also has three quarter-finals at the TBS and a brief stay at fourth place in the ATP rankings. Right now Rune is only number 14 in the world, with an even greater fall likely in the future. By inertia, Holger was included in the list of participants in the prestigious exhibition tournament 6 Kings Slam, which starts in Riyadh on October 16.
The competition will be part of the cultural and entertainment festival Riyadh Season, players will compete for the largest cash prize in tennis history – $ 6 million. Holger looks clearly out of place in the company of other participants – Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic, Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, who for obvious reasons invited to Saudi Arabia.
19-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik looks promising, who at the recent Masters in Shanghai knocked out top-10 players Andrei Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov, and also took a set from Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Thanks to this result, he rose to a record 51st place in the ATP rankings.
Not bad for 19 years old, but it’s still hard to believe that Menshik will be able to compete with Sinner and Alcaraz in the fight for “Helmets” in the near future. More likely, this will be done by representatives of the “middle generation” Daniil Medvedev (28 years old) and Alexander Zverev (27 years old). Both reached the Slam finals 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 are able to cope with Alcaraz and Sinner, but they still lose to them much more often in key matches.
It is unlikely that any of them can be called an addition to the new “Big Three”. If Alexander takes his debut Slam before the end of his career, and Daniil snags his second or third major, then this is already a good outcome for them. But Medvedev and Zverev at least continue to play at an elite level, unlike Stefanos Tsitsipas (26 years old), who was previously mentioned in the same row as them, who completely gave up and fell out of the top 10.
Perhaps there will be some flashes from Casper Ruud (25 years old) and Taylor Fritz (26 years old) who recently played in the TBS finals. You can’t write off Andrei Rublev (26 years old), who could break through if he overcomes the ill-fated quarterfinal barrier at the majors. And yet, all of them do not look 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 persons of Yannick and Carlos. At the early stage of their careers, in general, they are not particularly worse than Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, and in some ways they are even superior to them. Will the Spaniard and Italian be able to dominate the rest of their rivals for a decade and a half? Only time will tell.
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