NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz threw his arms within the air, earlier than a large smile unfold throughout his face and he crouched down on his knees. He had simply gained the 2025 US Open title, in entrance of a captivated crowd of 24,000 on Arthur Ashe Stadium. However his actual celebration may wait.
Earlier than anything he wanted to hug and congratulate his opponent Jannik Sinner. The pair — fiercest of rivals on the court docket however real pals off of it — had been all smiles and complimentary phrases as they met on the internet. They then walked off the court docket with their arms wrapped over each other’s shoulders in a present of real admiration.
It had been the third straight assembly in a serious ultimate between the 2, and Sunday’s ultimate had been a can’t-miss match — with ticket costs within the 1000’s and the world No. 1 rating on the road.
Ultimately, it had been Alcaraz who earned the surprisingly easy 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory for his sixth main title.
However regardless of who ended up profitable on Sunday, it was clear going into the match that males’s tennis presently has two classes: Sinner and Alcaraz, and everybody else.
“I’m seeing you more than my family,” Alcaraz joked in the course of the trophy ceremony as he checked out Sinner.
After handily profitable his quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Novak Djokovic, the 24-time main champion who has spent extra weeks at No. 1 than anybody in historical past, acknowledged it could be troublesome to beat Alcaraz within the semifinals after which could be a problem if he had been to face Sinner within the ultimate. However he sounded optimistic.
“We know that they are the two best players in the world,” he instructed reporters. “Everybody is probably expecting and anticipating the finals between the two of them. I’m going to try to, you know, mess up the plans of most of the people.”
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Three days later, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in a largely one-sided affair, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2, to advance to the ultimate. Djokovic’s demeanor had notably shifted, and he sounded dejected, if not resigned to his destiny, when talking once more to the media.
“It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the hurdle of Sinner [and] Alcaraz, in the best-of-five [in] the Grand Slams,” stated Djokovic flatly.
Sunday formally marked the primary season since 2002 the place no member of the Huge Three — Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — reached a serious ultimate. But it surely’s abundantly clear a brand new period of dominance is upon us, and the baton has been handed. And whereas different gamers may not have the identical bodily considerations or limitations that the 38-year-old Djokovic has in prolonged matches, the impediment of the brand new Huge Two is actual for each participant on tour. After Alcaraz’s victory on Ashe, the duo has mixed to win the previous eight majors — each Slam because the begin of the 2024 season. And the titles are evenly cut up between them, with 4 apiece.
So now, with solely a point of hyperbole, the query is: Since neither the 22-year-old Alcaraz or the 24-year-old Sinner are seemingly at their peak but, can another man win a serious within the close to future?
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner (background) have mixed to win the final eight Grand Slam titles. Robert Deutsch-Imagn Photos
Two years in the past that query may need appeared far-fetched. Ludicrous even. On the finish of the 2023 season, Alcaraz had two main titles to his identify and Sinner had reached his first Slam semifinal that season however had but to win a title. Each of their skills had been clear, and their ceilings had been limitless, however neither was precisely a given to contend for each title.
Djokovic, then again, had gained three of the yr’s 4 Slam titles and confirmed no indicators of slowing down. On the year-end ATP Finals, wherein he gained, he was assured in his skills to interrupt the all-time main document after which some in 2024.
“Well, you can win four Slams and an Olympic gold,” stated Djokovic when requested about his objectives for the upcoming season.
Having beforehand spoken in the course of the season about how a lot he preferred his “chances in Grand Slams, against anybody on any surface, best-of-five,” it appeared he believed these ambitions had been greater than attainable. Sinner, who Djokovic defeated for the ATP Finals title, referred to as him, “the best player in the world.”
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However he vowed to be taught from the expertise.
“I think generally today I saw that I still have to improve, for sure,” stated Sinner on the time. “I believe that he makes me a better player, like all the other players have done who I lost to. I now have to work on this.”
Sinner went on to win his main title on the Australian Open simply two months later — to start out the 2024 season and to formally unveil the “Sincaraz” period of dominance.
In 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner have confronted each other within the earlier three Slam finals. Alcaraz gained the French Open in a dramatic comeback, and Sinner spoiled Alcaraz’s bid for a three-peat at Wimbledon in 4 units. All through the final eight majors, they’ve collectively confronted 4 different opponents within the finals: Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev (twice).
After Zverev misplaced in straight units to Sinner on the Australian Open in January, he remarked to the group, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to lift the trophy.”
Fritz, the present world No. 4 who fell in straight units to Sinner within the 2024 US Open ultimate, was pragmatic in his evaluation of Sinner and Alcaraz at this stage.
“They’ve both improved a lot,” stated Fritz in the beginning of the event this yr. “I imply, you’d anticipate it as a result of they’re each youthful, so that they’re nonetheless bettering, getting higher. They’ve taken large strides over the past two years to turn out to be very clear, dominant gamers.
“We know that they are the two best players in the world,” Twenty-four-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic stated on the US Open. Sarah Stier/Getty Photos
“I think they motivate the rest of the guys to improve, because you’re going to have to improve a lot if you want to, you know, beat them and contend for the biggest titles.”
And a few others have certainly proven flashes of promise. Within the seven Masters 1000-level occasions this yr, Alcaraz has gained three (and Sinner was sidelined for 4 of them as he served a three-month suspension) however 4 different gamers — Jack Draper, Jakub Menšík, Casper Ruud and Ben Shelton — have additionally emerged victorious.
The 22-year-old Shelton has now gained three profession titles, together with ultimately month’s Canadian Open, and has twice reached a serious semifinal, together with earlier this yr in Melbourne. He presently holds a career-high rating of No. 6.
“I think those two guys now, for the next few years, are the ones to beat, [but] someone like a Ben Shelton can disrupt them,” stated former world No. 4 and present analyst Mary Joe Fernandez. “I’ve been actually glad along with his progress, seeing him develop as a participant. I nonetheless assume he’s bought lots of enchancment left to go.
This yr, Sinner gained the Australian Open and Wimbledon, whereas Alcaraz took the titles at Wimbledon and the US Open. EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA ULASHKEVICH
“[Shelton] has weapons. He’s an entertainer, another player that really has fun out there. If he continues on this path of improving, he could be someone that can disrupt them. I mean, there’s a few other [players], for sure. But it’s going to be tough because these guys have really set the bar very high.”
Shelton has overwhelmed Sinner solely as soon as in seven conferences and has by no means defeated Alcaraz. He was compelled to retire from his third-round match in New York resulting from a shoulder harm.
Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, presently ranked No. 44, is one other identify continuously talked about as a future contender and somebody who would possibly sooner or later be capable to knock off Sinner and Alcaraz from their shared perch. Former world No. 8 John Isner, who spent the whole lot of his profession enjoying with the “Big Three,” believes Fonseca has maybe the perfect probability of anybody to problem the duo.
“I know we pump up Fonseca a lot, but for the sake of the health of our sport, and I actually do believe this, I am going to say yes. He can catch up to these guys and get to the conversation,” stated Isner on his “Nothing Major” podcast earlier this summer season. “I am not saying that it’s next year or the year after, but in the next four or five years he can be in the conversation where he is one of the top four favorites to win each Slam he enters.”
Fonseca, who made his main major draw debut this season and reached the third spherical on the French Open and Wimbledon, has but to face both participant. He misplaced within the second spherical in New York.
So, for now anyway, Sinner and Alcaraz seem in a league of their very own. There may be practically a 5,000-point hole between the pair and No. 3 Zverev — and the remainder of the sphere within the rankings.
Together with his victory on Sunday, Alcaraz will take over the No. 1 rating from Sinner. AP Photograph/Frank Franklin II
All through the US Open, the 2 had been blisteringly dominant. Heading into the ultimate, each had gained no less than 95% of their service video games — with Alcaraz at 98% and having gained all however two. Sinner was victorious in 42% of his return video games, with Alcaraz taking a few third of his. Every had three matches all through their respective runs that lasted two hours or much less. After Sinner handed Alexander Bublik, the No. 23 seed, a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 loss in simply 81 minutes, a shell-shocked however amused Bublik congratulated him on the internet by saying, “You’re so good. I’m not bad, like what the f—?”
Alcaraz’s opponents had related sentiments. “I’ll just say I think that today I kind of met the Grand Slam version of Carlos,” stated No. 20 seed Jiri Lehecka after a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 loss within the quarterfinals. “That’s the way how I would like to think about it, because yeah, it’s been a difficult match.”
By assembly in Sunday’s ultimate, it marked simply the second time within the Open Period that two males have accounted for the entire main titles in two seasons, becoming a member of Federer and Nadal in 2006 and 2007. The pair grew to become the primary males within the Open Period to play in three consecutive main finals throughout the identical calendar yr, and the primary duo within the sport to take action since Venus and Serena Williams in 2002.
In fact, tennis could be a fickle sport and issues can change rapidly. For a number of years, Medvedev gave the impression to be the subsequent massive factor and among the many heirs obvious to exchange the Huge Three. He reached six main finals between 2019 and 2024, gained the 2021 US Open, and even briefly held the world No. 1 rating. However this yr, he gained just one match at a Slam and was upset within the opening spherical on the French Open, at Wimbledon and through this fortnight on the US Open.
Whereas Medvedev actually may flip issues round in 2026 — and Sinner and Alcaraz have proven no indicators of a future droop — the 29-year-old’s present struggles are merely proof of how troublesome it’s to maintain such a excessive stage over an prolonged interval.
At this level, whereas the pair are in a class all their very own and the clear favorites for almost the whole lot going ahead, it’s anybody’s guess what is going to occur. And similar to Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro discovered a approach to win on the most important phases within the period of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, there’s additionally room for another person within the present tennis ecosystem.
“I do think Sinner and Alcaraz over the next three, four years will dominate,” stated former US Open quarterfinalist and ESPN broadcaster Patrick McEnroe. “Do I think they’re going to win every single one? No.”
