A Permanent Changing of the Guard
04/10/2024 10:27:08
With Jannik Sinner claiming the 2024 US Open to go with his Australian Open title from earlier in the year and Carlos Alcaraz winning the other two Grand Slams at Wimbledon and the French Open, the question now is, Has the era of a new Big Two in men’s tennis already begun?
Novak Djokovic’s early exit from Flushing Meadows meant that for the first time since 2002 one of the legendary Big Three of Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer did not win a Grand Slam title, surely changing the power dynamics of the men’s game moving forward.
It seems strange that not that long ago questions were being asked about the future of the men’s game post the Big 3, along with Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, the other multiple Grand Slam winners pre-Sinner and Alcaraz. No one from the group of Zverev, Medvedev, Tsitsipas among others ever stepped forward with any great authority, but the way Alcaraz and Sinner have taken control of the four Grand Slams this year would suggest we are looking at the two leading players in the men’s game for the foreseeable future.
Can Anyone Compete?
That’s not to say that Novak Djokovic can’t or won’t win another Slam. In fact, there is a good chance that he will still win multiple Grand Slams before he finally steps aside and allows the two new superstars to take full control over the ATP Tour.
His performance at the Olympics where he finally clinched the title that had eluded him during his historic career proved that he could still hang in there with the absolute best. If he can stay fit for the majority of 2025, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see him add Grand Slam number 25 to his collection, making him the most successful singles player in history.
But Djokovic, now like all the others, appears to be part of the chasing pack. For so long, he chased Federer and Nadal, before wrestling control from them and taking the game and what could be possible on a tennis court to even greater heights than even the two most popular players in the history of the sport could manage. The conundrum for the greatest player of all time now is whether he has the motivation after all he has achieved to become a hunter once again and put himself through all that must be done to win at the highest level against two men who look ready to take over.
For that group of players such as Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas and Dimitrov that initially appeared it must be hard to accept. For the longest time, their paths to Grand Slam success were blocked by the three greatest players in the history of the game, along with Murray and Wawrinka to a much lesser extent. Almost all that group apart from Djokovic perhaps are now either retired or close to it, and yet they are now confronted by a duo of generational talent players who have already won at the highest level, something only Medvedev and Dominic Thiem could do out of that group. In fact, out of that large group of players all born in the 1990s, its only Medvedev that you can realistically say is a consistent Grand Slam contender now, with the others flattering to deceive at the top table on far too many occasions.
Novak Djokovic’s early exit from Flushing Meadows meant that for the first time since 2002, one of the legendary Big 3 of Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer did not win a Grand Slam title, surely changing the power dynamics of the men’s game moving forward.
Sinner and Alcaraz Head-to-Head
Sinner and Alcaraz look likely to continue getting better and better as their careers progress, especially with them now really pushing one another. Alcaraz made the first breakthrough of the pair, winning the 2022 US Open, and following it up with the 2023 Wimbledon title in an epic against Djokovic. Sinner responded by winning his first Slam at the Australian Open in January 2024 before Alcaraz went back-to-back at the 2024 French Open and Wimbledon Championships. With the 23-year-old Italian taking the 2024 US Open, it now gives the pair 6 of the last 9 Grand Slams.
Alcaraz at 21 years old has already won Grand Slams on all three surfaces, becoming the youngest man in the history of the sport to do so when he won the 2024 French Open title. Sinner, meanwhile, took home both hard court Grand Slam titles this year, as well as winning two of the hard court Masters 1000 events at the Miami Open and in Cincinnati, thus showing his developing dominance on that particular surface.
Their current head-to-head record stands at 5-4 to Alcaraz, with the Spaniard leading their Grand Slam meetings 2-1. Sinner won their first Slam encounter at Wimbledon in 2022, but Alcaraz has won the last two, at the 2022 US Open quarter final and the 2024 French Open Semi-Final, both in five sets. Alcaraz also leads the Grand Slam Championships count 4-2, as the two most powerful players of this new era of men’s tennis lay the foundations for a generation of dominance. We will just have to wait and see if anyone else can join them.
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✒️ Liam Lacey – Football and GAA Sports Expert
Liam Lacey is a sportswriter from County Laois in Ireland who specializes in delivering content on GAA, horse races, and football matters (though he does see himself as somewhat of a tennis aficionado also).
Liam has written about All Ireland Gaelic Football and Hurling Championships, Premier League, Champions League and international football, offering expert opinions and match previews and predictions. Occasionally, even getting some right!
Last Updated on 17/09/2024
