Carlos Alcaraz is into the US Open final without having dropped a set, and is one straight-sets victory over Jannik Sinner away from doing something nobody has ever done before in the history of the sport.
The way in which he has cruised through his draw has been mesmeric, brushing aside some high-quality opponents, and most recently defeating Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.
There, the 38-year-old managed to compete admirably with a man 16 years his junior, but after losing two narrow sets, his body failed him in the third.
This has sparked John McEnroe to predict whether Djokovic may retire in the coming months or across the next year, given his clear inability to hang with these young superstars in the best-of-five format.
Despite the nature of his defeat last night, Carlos Alcaraz still boasts so much respect for the Serbian superstar.
He made this abundantly clear on social media.
Carlos Alcaraz reacts to reaching the US Open final
Taking to Instagram after knocking Djokovic out of the US Open, Alcaraz was keen to emphasise just how much he enjoyed playing against a player of his quality and stature.
After all, before his physicality failed him, the legendary veteran was hugely competitive, and even took the second set to a tiebreak.
For that, he clearly re-affirmed the huge respect the Spaniard already had for him, and he wrote on social media to publicise his thoughts.
The 22-year-old claimed: “Big respect for @djokernole! It was a privilege to share a court with you on another big stage! I could not be happier! We’re in the US Open final! VAMOOOOOS”.
Carlos Alcaraz’s record vs Jannik Sinner in Grand Slam matches
Elsewhere, later that night there was obviously another Grand Slam semi-final, contested between Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
They were competing for the honour of meeting Alcaraz in the final, which must have been a daunting task for the pair.
And whilst the Canadian did perform admirably, and certainly better than the last time they met in Cincinnati, he just did not have enough.
Sinner will now meet Alcaraz in the final of a third consecutive Grand Slam, in what will be just their sixth meeting at a major.
Overall, the five-time Grand Slam champion leads their head-to-head with nine wins to five, but whenever they have met at a major, that has been a different story.
Sinner won their first-ever meeting, at Wimbledon in 2022, before Alcaraz got his revenge in New York on his way to his maiden Grand Slam title.
We then had to wait another two years for them to clash again, with Alcaraz again beating Sinner, this time in the French Open final.
As noted earlier, the last two major finals have been contested by this duo, with the titles shared between them.
With that in mind, Alcaraz does still boast a slender lead in major head-to-head matches, but only by three wins to two. Sunday’s final could either see him pull further ahead, or get pulled back level in this captivating rivalry.
