Sam Querrey thinks Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have shocked the ATP Tour with how fast they have risen to the top of the sport.
Following the steady decline of the Big Three, many expected a power vacuum to open up.
This was an opportunity for the likes of Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and even Taylor Fritz to claim the Grand Slam titles that they have been starved of for the early parts of their careers.
Alas, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner wasted no time in stepping up, leapfrogging that generation with ease.
Sam Querrey compares Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to the Big Three
Speaking to Sports Illustrated, it was Querrey who began by issuing his comparison between the New Two and the Big Three.
He claimed: “The delta between Alcaraz and Sinner and the field is way bigger than Federer, Nadal, [Novak] Djokovic and the field. The gap that these two have created is like the biggest gap we’ve ever seen.”
Can Carlos Alcaraz win MORE Grand Slams than Novak Djokovic? 🤔
The American then expressed his sympathy for the generation, including Zverev and Tsitsipas, who were blindsided by this sudden emergence.
Querrey added: “I think people thought ‘O.K., there’s going to be a four or five-year window here where [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, [Alexander] Zverev and all these guys were going to get a handful of majors. Some of them got one. But, everyone is very shocked that right away two guys at 20 years old just started dominating.”
Brad Gilbert then chimed in to outline Novak Djokovic’s role in this current two-man dominance: “I feel like there’s a pretty big distance—it goes one and two, and then it goes three, and then there’s a very big distance between four and 10 to one and two.
“In the men’s, there’s a much wider gap. But, they’ve earned it. They’ve earned it by what they’re doing to everyone else.”
“We’re waiting for that third person, but unfortunately that third person is Djokovic at 38 years young. He’s still clearly the third best player, especially at majors given how consistent he’s been.”
Who could challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner?
Given we have become accustomed to three men dominating the ATP Tour, much of the discourse surrounding Alcaraz and Sinner is about who might be that third man to join them at the apex of the sport.
And whilst that is not guaranteed, there are a number of leading candidates to potentially make that next step up.
Joao Fonseca will be the man to unsettle Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s duopoly over men’s tennis – Prove us wrong!
Before his injury, Jack Draper seemed the most likely, with Ben Shelton another often tipped to break through after winning his maiden Masters 1000 event in 2025.
Arthur Fils could challenge Alcaraz and Sinner, but faces a tough task managing his body after so much injury turmoil.
And Holger Rune, having been ruled out for the foreseeable future after an Achilles injury, is perhaps a forgotten anomaly who could return with renewed hope of soon disrupting this duopoly.
