Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have been the future of men’s tennis for some time.
They met for the first time in October 2021 at the Paris Masters, giving a glimpse of the exciting tennis the two played on the same court.
The following year there was a very exciting match in the last 16 at Wimbledon that captured the attention of the casual tennis audience, followed by an entertaining final in Umag, Croatia, and then a late night/early morning The US Open has announced their tennis brand as the next great thing at the top of the sport. Next up is the seminal semifinals of the seminal Miami Open in 2023, and another classic at Indian Wells in 2024.
They did it all in long shadows. The first two, and then more and more one – Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Although they won their first Grand Slam title, Alcaraz twice and Sinner once, beating Djokovic along the way, the myth created by their 20-year reign still hangs over them.
That myth will be shattered when they step onto the clay at Roland Garros on Friday. In a see-saw French Open semi-final, Alcaraz advanced to the French Open final with a five-set advantage. It was he who was one step ahead of his opponents in this seemingly see-saw competition.
Their French Open semi-finals were another tug-of-war. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images)
With Djokovic expected to miss at least Wimbledon following knee surgery, suddenly it’s not just a matter of competition in men’s tennis; this Competition in men’s tennis. They are two of the best (in form) players by a wide margin, with Sinner named world number one in just a matter of days and Alcaraz hot on the heels of a battered Djokovic preparing to overtake him as world number one. two.
It’s one of those oddities in tennis: a match that feels like a final but isn’t actually a final because of the way the draw determines the outcome. On the other side of the draw, Kasper Ruud faced Alexander Zverev – Ruud a two-time French Open finalist and Zverev a player who has been outstanding over the past few months – but Sinner and Alcaraz was a different player last year.
The competition is still in its early stages, but there are already some things to evaluate. The match should be close, with the pair winning four of their first eight matches before Alcaraz prevailed 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 at Roland Garros to advance to France Open final.
It’s not like the early stages of the rivalry between Roger Federer and Nadal, who won six of their first seven games, or a match between two of the best women’s players in the world, Iga Swa Tech leads Coco Goff in head-to-head meetings 11-1.
Carlos Alcaraz leads the head-to-head 5-4. (Tim Goode/Getty Images)
There also appear to be no superficial issues between players on either side. Alcaraz won on indoor and outdoor hard courts, and Sinner won on outdoor hard courts, grass and clay. But they have only met once in the latter two tournaments, with Alcaraz becoming Wimbledon champion in 2023 and winning at Queen’s after four matches at SW19 the previous year. If Alcaraz can emulate his performance on the slow hard courts of Indian Wells, using his ability to vary spin, speed and depth to get Sinner away from the beat-heavy, pounding consistency, then the clay-court game should too It’s close, and that’s his trademark.
Ultimately, that was how Friday’s match ended, with Alcaraz’s victory giving both sides a victory on clay. Sinner led two sets to one, but some mesmerizing lobs and lobs, coupled with a seemingly impossible winner from the baseline, ultimately tipped the match in Alcaraz’s favor.
Their face-to-face intimacy is reflected in the intimacy of their relationship. They weren’t the best of friends off the court – few tennis players get to be together – but they got along well and enjoyed playing against each other. How long their rivalry will last and the stakes will get higher as time goes on is another question, and it will be interesting to see the different dynamic before Friday’s game versus when they’re waiting for that Indian to come on The friendliness compared to the Wells semi-finals was interesting.
That time, they greeted each other as if they were meeting at a cocktail party. On Friday, in the tunnel before the trip to Chatelier, the atmosphere was completely different. They shook hands, gave Alcaraz that serious look, and then both found their own space and went about their daily activities.
This is all business. Previously, some of their encounters had an almost performative feel.
Carlos Alcaraz applauded his opponent after the game. (Tim Goode/Getty Images)
After their first meeting at the Paris Masters, a defeated Sinner said to Alcaraz: “I hope we can play a few more times.” Alcaraz replied with a smile on his face: “Yeah, yeah , Yeah, of course.”
When they play against each other, something happens – both sides create an energy and chemistry that elevates the other’s game. There was a sweet moment during the Indian Wells semifinals in March when the two looked at each other and laughed after Sinner had somehow won a puzzling match. It was as if they were saying, “Can you see what we just did?” This incident, and the two’s other interactions on the court, gave the feeling you get when you meet like-minded people in your life. Wait, you like that band too? Do you support that team too? You can also sprint at full speed and somehow deflect an angled crosscourt forehand?
“I’m already fast, and he’s a lot faster than me,” Sinner said of Alcaraz, sounding like a man excited to finally meet his match.
This mutual improvement is the hallmark of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic triumvirate. Nadal dominated Federer, so Federer figured out how to beat him. Nadal found the grass. Djokovic found clay. Their final, the greatest match in men’s tennis history, proved it in real time, forcing each other to reach greater heights and creating a closed-loop training camp that took them further and further away from the court below.
Time will tell whether competition can take each player to greater heights (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Who knows if Alcaraz and Sinner would have retained their fondness for each other if the rivalry had become less close, either in head-to-head matches or in the number of majors won, or both.
They seem to really like the way each other raises their game. It’s not like Federer admitted in the 2018 documentary “Stroke of Genius” that he didn’t welcome the threat Nadal posed when he suddenly showed up, but was happier winning a Grand Slam with little opposition, thank you very much .
It’s hard to see either Sinner or Alcaraz coming out on top of the other, and it’s possible both could have the upper hand. Alcaraz is better at changing things to fit the surface, while Sinner usually plays his own game, making the surface almost irrelevant. This approach has always worked for almost everyone except Alcaraz and Djokovic, and it didn’t work so well in Paris, where Alcaraz’s versatility came into play.
Working in Sinner’s favor is that his momentum, albeit dampened, has seen him surpass Alcaraz for the world number one spot as of Monday, which will, as Alcaraz predicts, be at the ATP Tour in November. It happened in the finals, when Sinner made it to the finals. But now that Alcaraz is in another Grand Slam final, he has deservedly won three of his four matches, while Sinner has won one.
It’s easy to try to say Friday’s game was somehow decisive or hugely revealing, but that’s a stretch.
Sinner won the game with more total points, but Alcaraz stepped up in the clutch. We’d need a larger sample size to predict how this rivalry might ultimately turn out, and being a standard-bearer rivalry for a sport comes with a certain level of pressure, as Alcaraz and Sinner suddenly showed up.
Sometimes on Friday they reach the desired height; In other matches, nerves were understandable – most evident in the third set when Sinner suffered cramps, a condition Alcaraz said he also suffered from.
“This is the game that everyone wants to watch,” Alcaraz said before Friday’s meeting.
As Djokovic recovers, this state is expected to continue for a while.
(Above: Danes Titan/Getty Images)
