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 received 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 the rest, he wanted to hug and congratulate his opponent Jannik Sinner. The pair — fiercest of rivals on the courtroom however real pals off of it — have been all smiles and compliments as they met on the internet. They then walked off the courtroom 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 closing between the 2, and Sunday’s closing had been a can’t-miss match — with ticket costs within the 1000’s and the world No. 1 rating on the road.
In the long run, it had been Alcaraz who earned the surprisingly simple 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory for his sixth main title.
However regardless of who ended up successful on Sunday, it was clear going into the match that males’s tennis presently has two classes: Sinner and Alcaraz, and everybody else.
“I am seeing you greater than my household,” Alcaraz joked in the course of the trophy ceremony as he checked out Sinner.
After handily successful 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 might be tough to beat Alcaraz within the semifinals after which could be a problem if he have been to face Sinner within the closing. However he sounded optimistic.
“We all know that they’re the 2 greatest gamers on the planet,” he advised reporters. “Everyone might be anticipating and anticipating the finals between the 2 of them. I will attempt to, , mess up the plans of the general public.”
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Three days later, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in a principally 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 is going to be very tough for me sooner or later to beat the hurdle of Sinner [and] Alcaraz, within 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 Massive Three — Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — reached a serious closing. However it’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 issues or limitations that the 38-year-old Djokovic has in prolonged matches, the impediment of the brand new Massive 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 for the reason that begin of the 2024 season. And the titles are evenly break 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 probably at their peak but, can some other man win a serious within the close to future?
Two years in the past that query might need appeared far-fetched. Ludicrous even. On the finish of the 2023 season, Alcaraz had two main titles to his title and Sinner had reached his first Slam semifinal that season however had but to win a title. Each of their abilities have been clear, and their ceilings have been limitless, however neither was precisely a given to contend for each title.
Djokovic, however, had received three of the yr’s 4 Slam titles and confirmed no indicators of slowing down. On the year-end ATP Finals, through which he received, he was assured in his skills to interrupt the all-time main file after which some in 2024.
“Effectively, you possibly can win 4 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 “probabilities in Grand Slams, in opposition to anyone on any floor, best-of-five,” it appeared he believed these ambitions have been greater than attainable. Sinner, who Djokovic defeated for the ATP Finals title, referred to as him, “the very best participant on the planet.”
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However he vowed to study from the expertise.
“I feel typically at the moment I noticed that I nonetheless have to enhance, for certain,” stated Sinner on the time. “I consider that he makes me a greater participant, like all the opposite gamers have finished who I misplaced to. I now need to work on this.”
Sinner went on to win his main title on the Australian Open simply two months later — to begin 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 received 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 do not know if I am going to ever be capable of carry the trophy.”
Fritz, the present world No. 4 who fell in straight units to Sinner within the 2024 US Open closing, was pragmatic in his evaluation of Sinner and Alcaraz at this stage.
“They’ve each improved so much,” stated Fritz firstly of the match this yr. “I imply, you’d count on it as a result of they’re each youthful, in order that they’re nonetheless bettering, getting higher. They’ve taken large strides over the past two years to develop into very clear, dominant gamers.
“I feel they inspire the remainder of the fellows to enhance, as a result of you are going to have to enhance so much if you wish to, , beat them and contend for the largest titles.”
And a few others have certainly proven flashes of promise. Within the seven Masters 1000-level occasions this yr, Alcaraz has received three (and Sinner was sidelined for 4 of them as he served a three-month suspension) however 4 different gamers — Jack Draper, Jakub MenÅ¡Ãk, Casper Ruud and Ben Shelton — have additionally emerged victorious.
The 22-year-old Shelton has now received 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 feel these two guys now, for the following few years, are those to beat, [but] somebody like a Ben Shelton can disrupt them,” stated former world No. 4 and present analyst Mary Joe Fernandez. “I have been actually completely satisfied along with his progress, seeing him develop as a participant. I nonetheless assume he is acquired quite a lot of enchancment left to go.
“[Shelton] has weapons. He is an entertainer, one other participant that basically has enjoyable on the market. If he continues on this path of bettering, he may very well be somebody that may disrupt them. I imply, there’s a number of different [players], for certain. However it should be powerful as a result of these guys have actually set the bar very excessive.”
Shelton has crushed Sinner solely as soon as in seven conferences and has by no means defeated Alcaraz. He was pressured to retire from his third-round match in New York on account of a shoulder damage.
Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, presently ranked No. 44, is one other title continuously talked about as a future contender and somebody who would possibly in the future be capable of knock off Sinner and Alcaraz from their shared perch. Former world No. 8 John Isner, who spent everything of his profession taking part in with the “Massive Three,” believes Fonseca has maybe the very best probability of anybody to problem the duo.
“I do know we pump up Fonseca so much, however for the sake of the well being of our sport, and I truly do consider this, I’m going to say sure. He can catch as much as these guys and get to the dialog,” stated Isner on his “Nothing Main” podcast earlier this summer season. “I’m not saying that it is subsequent yr or the yr after, however within the subsequent 4 or 5 years he may be within the dialog the place he is likely one of the high 4 favorites to win every Slam he enters.”
Fonseca, who made his main important 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 sector within the rankings.
All through the US Open, the 2 have been blisteringly dominant. Heading into the ultimate, each had received a minimum of 95% of their service video games — with Alcaraz at 98% and having received all however two. Sinner was victorious in 42% of his return video games, with Alcaraz taking a couple of 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 are so good. I am not dangerous, like what the f—?”
Alcaraz’s opponents had related sentiments. “I am going to simply say I feel that at the moment I sort of met the Grand Slam model of Carlos,” stated No. 20 seed Jiri Lehecka after a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 loss within the quarterfinals. “That is the way in which how I want to give it some thought, as a result of yeah, it has been a tough match.”
By assembly in Sunday’s closing, 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 is usually a fickle sport and issues can change rapidly. For a number of years, Medvedev gave the impression to be the following massive factor and among the many heirs obvious to interchange the Massive Three. He reached six main finals between 2019 and 2024, received the 2021 US Open, and even briefly held the world No. 1 rating. However this yr, he received 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 definitely may flip issues round in 2026 — and Sinner and Alcaraz have proven no indicators of a future stoop — the 29-year-old’s present struggles are merely proof of how tough 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 nearly all the pieces going ahead, it is anybody’s guess what is going to occur. And identical to Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro discovered a strategy to win on the largest phases within the period of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, there’s additionally room for another person within the present tennis ecosystem.
“I do assume Sinner and Alcaraz over the following three, 4 years will dominate,” stated former US Open quarterfinalist and ESPN broadcaster Patrick McEnroe. “Do I feel they’ll win each single one? No.”
