If Jannik Sinner can somehow forget what happened in Paris, where he literally melted in the 90-degree heat, his 2026 season will go down as one of the most memorable in modern tennis history.
Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 at Wimbledon on Sunday for his sixth title in the last seven tournaments. His record this season is 44-3, matching Novak Djokovic’s record in 2015 (82-6) and Roger Federer’s record in 2006 (92-5). The 24-year-old has already won five Grand Slam titles, closing in on all-time greats such as Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.
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But while Sinner was wasting this Wimbledon field, dropping just three sets on his way to the title, a video emerged of Carlos Alcaraz, back in Spain, recovering from tendonitis in his right wrist and just beginning to swing a tennis racket lightly again.
It’s unclear whether Alcaraz will be able to return in time for the U.S. Open, which begins in seven weeks. For tennis players, wrist injuries are no big deal.
But while Sinner has enjoyed collecting trophies while Alcaraz has been sidelined, one should root for his nemesis to get back to form as soon as possible. Because while Sinner’s greatness stands on its own, the respect and admiration for his accomplishments this year does not.
There are no stars and stripes in tennis, but all you can do is beat the player in front of you, and all Grand Slam titles count the same. Sinar and Alcaraz are so intertwined that the absence of one necessarily diminishes the accomplishments of the other.
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With all due respect to new French Open champion Zverev, who played at a very high level during the first 90 minutes of Sunday’s final, there are only two players in men’s tennis currently undergoing change. Zverev is not one of them.
When Alcaraz and Sinner played their third consecutive major final in New York at the end of last season, some fans worried that it would get boring if they left the field without a new worthy rival.
But here’s the reality of men’s tennis. Zverev is the clear No. 3 and can beat either of them on any given day, but the only truly compelling storyline in the sport is the historic race between Alcaraz and Sinner. And when one of them is hitting a nerf ball at a training center, we can’t really measure it.
Remember where we were last September? Alcaraz had just won the US Open final overall and advanced 6-4 in the Grand Slam race. About an hour after the fight, Sinner went into a press conference thinking he had become too predictable and would make changes even at the expense of other opponents.
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No other opponent could make Sinner feel like that, and mind you, no other opponent could force him into that mental space in a year where he won two majors. And it paid off.
Sinner hasn’t reinvented the wheel, but he’s a better player by the margins now than he was a year ago. In the final against Zverev, he used a brutal drop shot and made a great clutch volley. With some tweaks to his technique, his serve became a real weapon. And despite a bizarre physical breakdown in Paris, Sinner looks much more comfortable now than he did when he was in the melting pot of Grand Slam finals.
But how would he know if Alcaraz wasn’t there to test him?
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To be fair, the most dominant period of Sinner’s career began in early March, when Alcaraz won titles in all the tournaments he was competing in: Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte Carlo. However, they are not major. And in the end, their rivalry will not be defined by what happens in Beijing or Turin, but by how they fare against each other in the four most important tournaments.
That’s why these games have been must-see events in recent years, with some ranking among the most entertaining sporting events of recent years. Every time they play, the stakes feel historically very high. No matter who Sinner plays on Sunday, there’s no way to recreate that feeling without Alcaraz on the other side of the net.
It’s not Sinner’s fault that Alcaraz’s wrist caught fire at the worst possible time on the calendar, forcing him to miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon. But it does him a disservice in earning this Wimbledon title and the respect he deserves this entire season.
At some point in the rivalry, the shoe may end up on the opposite foot, and the same principles apply. In fact, the fact that Alcaraz defeated Sinner in two of the finals and Novak Djokovic in the third adds to the value of Alcaraz’s seven Grand Slam titles. True superiority can only be measured against relative equality, and the rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner is already one of the best and most influential in the history of the sport, with a long runway ahead.
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And if possible, I’d like to see it reopened in New York as well.
