The ‘big three’ and the ‘new two’- Another era of dominance awaits on tour for tennis.

It seems we’re entering another golden generation of Tennis. The last eight Grand Slams have been won by Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz (four each), with the two meeting in the last three finals, and they don’t look like stopping anytime soon. At their peak, ‘the big three’ (Djokovic, Federer & Nadal) won 18 Grand Slams in a row- Djokovic winning only one of them (!), with Federer and Nadal winning 11 consecutively. Since time has slowly began to creep up on all three of them, the tennis world was looking out for who could fill these enormous shoes.

It wasn’t meant to be for the initial suspects of Zverev, Medvedev and Tsitsipas, as their grand slam final record of 1-8 doesn’t scream “next generation”. Alcaraz jumped into this void when he won the 2022 US Open and became the youngest ever world #1 at just 19. Now, sitting on six slams at age 22, he’s far ahead of where Federer and Djokovic were at the same age.

Sinner, on the other hand, has been utterly dominant since the start of 2024. In the last two seasons he’s won 11 titles, four of which at Grand Slam level and was the 2024 year-end champion. The best stats to paint his domination, however, are those of his overall record. At the time of writing, his record since 2024 is 110-11, but Alcaraz is proving to be his boogey man as only one of these wins were against the Spaniard, whilst seven of the losses are. Alcaraz also ended Sinner’s career longest winning streak (26) in Rome this year, and his only loss this season NOT to come from Alcaraz snapped a 48-win streak in that category.

You can’t talk about this rivalry and not mention this year’s Roland Garros final. For me, it’s the greatest tennis final ever. The five and a half hours of pure drama should be enough to make anyone a tennis fan, and it’s going to be the new benchmark for great finals. If Sinner had won, he’d have become the youngest man ever to win the ‘career slam’. Alcaraz has two more shots at the Australian open to break the record himself, but he’d probably have to go through Sinner to do so.

There’s been a lot of debate lately about who could be the missing piece to truly complete a new big three. Names like Draper, Shelton and Musetti are the most common- but, currently, a 38-year-old Djokovic is still the stiffest competition they have, even if he struggles to keep up. I’d say, we should stop trying to look for a third player to fill the gap and start appreciating a modern-day Messi/Ronaldo-esque rivalry. 

Looking back ten years from now, these two will be mentioned in the same breath as the big three. Will they win eighteen consecutive slams between them? Probably not. But will they both go on to win 20+ slams each? I reckon so.