NEW YORK – The Men’s US Open Finals on Sunday afternoon (2pm ET) is one of the rare sporting events where wagers require little explanation. In the eighth straight grand slam, either Carlos Alcaraz or Janik Sinner will appear in the trophy, with the winner leaving Arthur Ashe Stadium as the number one player in the world.
But this new era of rivalry, heading towards the pantheon of John McEnroe Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampler Andre Agassi and Roger Federer Rafael Nadal in a great matchup in tennis history, isn’t the two players away from the field.
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In many ways, they are pushing the entire sport to a place they have never been out of date.
“The best athletes in the world are always the best athletes,” Patrick Mouratoggle, former coach of several top players, including Serena Williams, told Yahoo Sports. “But what’s very modern in their game is consistency, and it’s crazy. You have two guys that are not flawed.”
That may sound like an exaggeration, but in tennis it is quickly becoming traditional wisdom.
In a recent episode of the “Nothing Major” podcast featuring four of the top American men of the past decade, former top 15 player Sam Query called “the best ball striker of all time… the cleanest, best, pure ball striker ever seen by a tennis game.”
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As part of the same conversation, longtime American No. 1 John Isner called it “some of the best (level) tennis sports have ever seen.”
On Andy Roddick’s “Service” podcast, longtime coach, ESPN analyst and former top ten player Brad Gilbert expected that male tennis would have a little transition from his Novak Jjokovic days with several different players who won a grand slam.
Instead, they arrived at the end of 2025, and the two players met in the final of their third consecutive slam for the first time in the open era.
“In early 2024, if Djokovic had said he wasn’t going to win one (or more), I was like ‘no way’,” Gilbert said. “But it doesn’t seem like Alkaraz and the sinner were given something. These two guys took it and they ran with it.
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“If you put Andre (Agassi) and Djokovic in the blender, you’ll be a sinner. His level is outrageous right now. I’m shocked.
In 1968, when experts replaced amateurs in the Grand Slam, men’s tennis was a sport where small groups of players usually separate from the pack and win most of the big titles.
One of the main differences between the 1980s and 90s was surface specialization. There, Clay Coaters like Thomas Master and Gustavoquaten were able to win the French Open, and Sampler has only made one semifinal in his career. Conversely, a large server like Richard Krajicek was able to win at Wimbledon, and didn’t play another slam final.
Thanks to racket technology and a bit of homogenization of the surface, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic ended the story, each earning a career grand slam and over 20 majors.
The budding competition between Carlos Alcaraz and Giannik Sinner listens to some of the great duels in the history of the sport, including Rafael Nadal (left) vs. Roger Federer (right). (Photo by Photo/Getty Images)
(Shi Tang via Getty Images)
Now, the Sinner is clearly the world’s dominant hard court player, winning 27 consecutive US Open, with the Australian Open heading towards the final on Sunday. He only needed French to complete his set, and this year it was within the points to do it.
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Alcaraz won his first major here in 2022, but it seems to have made it easier on clay and grass, and his touch shots pay off a bit more than a hard court. The Australian is the only person he is short of, and there is little doubt that he will eventually get there.
But the reason they are on track to finish among the greatest of all time is the combination of force and movement that evolved from the Big 3, and it appears they are heading towards a completely different level as they push each other and get better. They not only hit shots like great players of any era, but their ability to cover courts means that it always makes special efforts to beat them in the course of a long, last five sets of matches.
“Alcaraz hits the ball against the corner and it looks like a pretty winner, but the sinner will not only get there, but will hit an offensive shot in return,” said former Wimbledon and US Open Champion Stan Smith. “It’s really amazing.”
If the sinner had one weakness the past two years ago, it was his endurance. The typical 6-foot-3 Italian often twitches or physically breaks down in long matches, but appears to have broken that threshold as he matures in his mid-twenties.
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The main issue for Alcaraz, who could become the youngest man to win six Grand Slam titles at age 22, was his focus and filming choice, which probably won’t surprise him with talent. He has many tools at his own freedom, he often doesn’t know what to use.
However, the criticism doesn’t seem to be valid as Alcaraz reached this US open final without dropping the set.
“That was no secret,” Alkaraz said. “(The sinner) talked about the physical condition he had to improve, and he has improved a lot. His matches are physically demanding and he can play 100% in two, three, four hours. That’s the biggest improvement he’s made.
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The question is how far they can keep pushing each other with sports and whether someone else will come to join them. The preview, which played the 5-hour, 15-minute marathon quarter-finals in 2022, was perhaps the most convincing tennis match of the decade.
There is no guarantee that they will be able to recreate that level of drama regularly, but Sunday’s US Open Finals is already their 15th meeting (Alcaraz 9-5), and there are many more possibilities in the next 15 or 20 slam finals.
At this point, they seem so inexplicable.
“In other generations, top players had incredible qualities, but there were holes in the game,” says Mouratoglou. “There was a tactic. I mean, it was very difficult to make it work, but there was. Where do you play against these people? How do you play? How do you play? How do you play? How do you play? How do you play? Push everyone to get better.”
