The first grand slam and Masters 1000 tournaments of the ATP season are behind us and to literally no one’s surprise, they have been won by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Alcaraz became the youngest man in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam when he lifted the Australian Open trophy in Melbourne in January, before Sinner became the youngest to complete the full set of big hard-court titles (the six Masters, two Grand Slams, and the ATP Finals) by triumphing in Indian Wells on Sunday.
The world’s top two continue to dominate the men’s tour and even though Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev were able to prevent a ‘Sincaraz’ final at the Australian Open and Indian Wells, with Djokovic beating Sinner in the semi-finals of the former and Medvedev defeating Alcaraz in the semis of the latter, no one has been able to beat both players at the same tournament since Djokovic achieved that feat at the 2023 ATP Finals.
The last nine Grand Slams have been won by either Alcaraz or Sinner, and in each of the past two years, they have combined to win nine of the 14 big events scheduled each season (the four majors, nine Masters 1000s and the ATP Finals).
While Alcaraz has a 2,150-point cushion between himself and Sinner at the top of the rankings, a whopping 6,030 points separate Sinner from Djokovic, who is next in line in third.
The rest of the field is well aware of the fact they would likely need to beat both Sinner and Alcaraz in order to win a major title and many are heading to the practice court dedicating parts of their training specifically towards figuring out ways to conquer ‘Sincaraz’.
“That's what I'm doing the last four months, especially with Marat [Safin, my coach], who is playing the main role in that aspect,” Andrey Rublev said last month.
Rublev lost a close match to Alcaraz in the Doha semi-finals recently, and said he already felt differently playing against the Spanish World No 1.
The chasing pack is trying
Alcaraz, who was 16-0 before his undefeated start to the 2026 season was halted by Medvedev last weekend, told reporters in Indian Wells that he feels like he always has a target on his back, adding: “To be honest, I just sometimes get tired of playing Roger Federer every round. Sometimes I just feel like, yeah, they are playing really at an insane level.”
Players are indeed doing everything possible to up their game when they take on Alcaraz and Sinner but the duo, more often than not, come out on top.
Alcaraz is 44-19 head-to-head against the players currently ranked three to 10, while Sinner is 55-20 against such opposition.
World No 6 Alex de Minaur is a brutal 0-13 against Sinner and is 0-6 versus Alcaraz. After a loss to Sinner in Davis Cup a year and a half ago, the Australian said: “It's like trying to solve a puzzle that not a lot of people have managed to solve. His ball speed and consistency make him maintain his focus throughout the match.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime, the World No 8, is a combined 5-9 against Alcaraz and Sinner. He has a similar pattern against both, where he won his first few matches against them before they were able to flip the head-to-head to their favour.
The Canadian lost his last five consecutive matches against Alcaraz, including clashes at the Paris Olympics, the French Open and the ATP Finals, and his last four against Sinner, including one in the Paris Masters final and another in the US Open semi-finals last year.
“I think all players over their careers that haven’t won a Grand Slam and have competed with players that are winning the Grand Slams, it's in the back of your mind when you go to practice,” Auger-Aliassime told The National.
“And you might still focus 80 per cent of the practice on your game and just doing the things that you do well every day and focusing on that. But you're going to dedicate some time to improving. And improving in today's game means beating those guys in the big matches.
“I had a chance to play them in the later stages of the season last year. So first, you need to be on the court with them, put yourself in a position to be in those big matches, semi-finals, finals of big tournaments.
“But I have to improve and I have to look back on those matches and see what I could have done better. So I'm able to change that head-to-head again and dominate them again.”
A ‘bittersweet’ feeling
Medvedev, a former world No 1 and Grand Slam champion, had a tough 2025 campaign and didn’t face Sinner or Alcaraz all season. Speaking to The National last month in Dubai, where he won the title, the Russian said he used to focus on building a game to beat Sinner and Alcaraz when he was facing them frequently.
“Especially when I was making semis of a slam on a kind of constant basis and then I was playing them. Now, no, because I haven't played them for more than a year. So I need to focus more on how do I get to these guys and then I can focus on how do I beat them. But for the moment, not the focus at all.”
A couple of weeks later, Medvedev got his wish as he got to face both Alcaraz and Sinner in Indian Wells, by showcasing some ultra-aggressive tennis.
After dispatching Alcaraz and falling to Sinner, Medvedev described the challenge of trying to beat them both, back-to-back.
“It's a bittersweet feeling, because to beat Carlos yesterday, it feels like a win of the tournament, especially for me. I lost a lot against him. But that's not the reality. You know, there is a final to play,” he explained.
When asked if he felt confident enough in himself to beat them on the biggest stages, Medvedev admitted it was “tough to say”.
“I think in general on a one-match basis, anyone can challenge them,” said the 30-year-old Medvedev.
“I mean, you saw Jakub [Mensik] beat Jannik in Doha, you saw me beat Carlos here, stuff like this. So on a one-match basis, a lot of guys can challenge that.
“But it's definitely very tough, and that's why, when you come to the end of the season, usually they have, like what, 60 wins, and I don't know, five, six losses, out of which four come from themselves, as well. So it's not an easy challenge, and you just need to try your best.”
When Djokovic was coming up on tour, he had to figure out ways to disrupt the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal duopoly. In an interview with La Nacion, the Serb described a difficult three-year journey between his first and second major titles, during which he realised the secret to beating his two rivals at the majors was in the mind.
“I was playing on a high level, but I just could not win the Grand Slams because of these two guys. They were so dominant and I didn't have the solution or the formula of success against them at that time,” Djokovic recalled. “I could win maybe one or two matches here and there, but big matches, I was not winning. And so these three years have been really crucial for my development and they made me even more hungry to really, particularly win against the two of them.
“Because I knew that if I continue, of course, my general growth as a player, but if I figure out the way to beat these guys in big matches, and I knew that a lot of it comes from here [pointing to his head], that I will solve the riddle, then I will start to win more Grand Slams. And that's what happened.”
The right mindset
Djokovic went on to surpass both of his rivals and is now the all-time leader with 24 major trophies.
Players of the current generation looking to contend with ‘Sincaraz’ know that the right mindset is necessary to stand a chance at breaking up this duopoly.
“For sure, I always have self-belief that I can be in those matches and win,” said Auger-Aliassime.
While some might be discouraged after losing a close battle with Sinner or Alcaraz, others have taken confidence from being able to push them during those clashes.
Karen Khachanov is 0-6 against Alcaraz, but their last two meetings went the distance, including a tight three-setter in the Doha quarter-finals last month.
“At the end of the day, you can say that he's at his best level. But I was competing with him, so that means I'm also close,” Khachanov told The National in Dubai.
Khachanov, a former top-10 player currently ranked 15 in the world, came up on tour when the ‘Big Three’ were dominating tennis. The 29-year-old Russian is now battling a different generation but says he is enjoying the challenge and that it allows him to test his own limits and understand what he’s capable of.
He sees the emergence of a player like Alcaraz as a natural evolution of the sport.
“I would say Carlos is a mix of Rafa and Roger. Because the intensity, the variety, everything what he brings, but at the same time, it looks so easy. Like Roger was doing, you know,” Khachanov said. “Amazing touch. Whatever he does, it's perfect. So, I would say that's why he's like a mix of these two players. And that's why it becomes super tough. Because his athleticism, his physicality is just on another level. He's able to do those things. Fighting, reaching those balls, playing crazy in defence. And then at the same time, in attack. Whenever he's in attack, he's doing crazy stuff as well.”
Three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, who turns 41 this month and is retiring at the end of this season, believes Sinner and Alcaraz are playing at a higher level than what was on display during the ‘Big Three’ era. As someone who managed to win slams then, Wawrinka is in a good position to advise the current generation on how to tackle the 'Big Two'.
“Right now Jannik and Carlos are at a different level. But there will be opportunity in the future. There are always going to be opportunities for players,” said Wawrinka.
“For me, most important is to look about yourself, to look about what you can improve, how you are going to improve, what you can do the best to improve your game physically, tennis-wise, and to not look at how I need to beat this guy or I need to beat this guy.
“At the end of the day you don't play the top player every match, so the most important is how you’re going to play all year long.”
