Alcaraz vs Sinner: Who can dethrone the dominant tennis duo?

Alcaraz Consolidates His Dominance: Conquers the 2025 US Open

Carlos Alcaraz, with a radiant smile and arms raised to the sky, celebrated his victory at the 2025 US Open. The Spaniard, after defeating his rival Jannik Sinner, was crowned champion in front of a crowd of 24,000 spectators at Arthur Ashe Stadium. However, the real celebration had to wait, as the tennis player’s first gesture was to embrace and congratulate his opponent. The final on Sunday, the third consecutive between the two in a Grand Slam tournament, was a must-see encounter. The match, with sky-high ticket prices and the world number one at stake, kept fans on the edge of their seats. Alcaraz won with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, adding his sixth Grand Slam title. The reality of current men’s tennis is clear: Sinner and Alcaraz, and the rest. During the trophy presentation ceremony, Alcaraz joked, “I see you more than my family,” addressing Sinner, with whom he shares a strong rivalry on the court, but also a genuine friendship off it.

“I know they are the two best players in the world,” Djokovic said, acknowledging the difficulty of facing them.

Novak Djokovic

After his victory in the quarterfinals, Novak Djokovic, holder of 24 Grand Slam titles and with more weeks as number one in the world than anyone else, acknowledged that it would be difficult to beat Alcaraz in the semifinals and, subsequently, Sinner in the final. Djokovic, after losing to Alcaraz in the semifinals, admitted: “It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the obstacle of Sinner [and] Alcaraz in the Grand Slams”. The 2025 season marked the first since 2002 without any member of the “Big Three” (Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal) reaching a Grand Slam final. A new era of dominance is consolidating, and the baton has been passed. Alcaraz and Sinner, together, have won the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, with four titles each, since the beginning of the 2024 season. The question now is whether anyone else will be able to win a Grand Slam in the near future, as neither Alcaraz (22 years old) nor Sinner (24 years old) seem to have reached their peak.

Two years ago, this question might have sounded far-fetched. At the end of the 2023 season, Alcaraz had two Grand Slam titles and Sinner reached his first Grand Slam semi-final, but hadn’t yet won a title. Djokovic, on the other hand, had won three of the four Grand Slam titles of the year and showed no signs of slowing down. Sinner, after losing to Djokovic in the ATP Finals final, acknowledged that he needed to improve. Then, Sinner won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, ushering in the “Sincaraz” era of dominance.

In 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner faced each other in all three Grand Slam finals. Alcaraz won the French Open after an epic comeback, and Sinner prevented Alcaraz from achieving the triple at Wimbledon. In the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, they have faced four other opponents in the finals: Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Zverev (twice).

Fritz, current world number 4, was pragmatic in his assessment of Sinner and Alcaraz: “They have both improved a lot. They have taken giant steps in the last two years to become dominant players.” Other players have shown flashes of promise. In the seven Masters 1000 level events this year, Alcaraz has won three (and Sinner was out for a three-month suspension), but four other players (Jack Draper, Jakub Menšík, Casper Ruud, and Ben Shelton) have also triumphed. Shelton, 22, has won three titles in his career, including the Canadian Masters last month, and has reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam twice. He is currently ranked number 6.

The Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, currently ranked 44th, is another name mentioned as a future contender. John Isner believes Fonseca has the best chance to challenge the duo. For now, Sinner and Alcaraz seem to be in a league of their own. The difference in points between them and number 3, Zverev, is almost 5,000 points, and the rest of the group in the ranking.

During the US Open, both players demonstrated impressive dominance. Before the final, both had won at least 95% of their service games. Alcaraz’s opponents expressed their amazement. “Today I met the Grand Slam version of Carlos,” said Jiri Lehecka after losing in the quarterfinals.

By meeting in Sunday’s final, they marked the second time in the Open Era that two men have split all the Grand Slam titles in two seasons, joining Federer and Nadal in 2006 and 2007. They became the first men in the Open Era to play in three consecutive Grand Slam finals in the same calendar year, and the first duo in the sport to do so since Venus and Serena Williams in 2002.

While Medvedev could reverse the situation in 2026, and Sinner and Alcaraz show no signs of decline, the current difficulties of the 29-year-old player demonstrate how difficult it is to maintain such a high level for a prolonged period. At this moment, although the pair are in a category of their own and are the clear favorites for almost everything in the future, no one knows what will happen. As they found a way to win Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martín del Potro in the era of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, there is also room for someone else in the current tennis ecosystem. “I think Sinner and Alcaraz will dominate in the next three or four years,” said Patrick McEnroe. “I don’t think they’re going to win each and every one.”