The ‘New Two’ Has Replaced The ‘Big Three’ In Men’s Tennis

The “Big Three” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic combined to win 66 Grand Slam singles titles during their two decades of dominating men’s tennis.

Now a “New Two” is threatening to rule for the next decade or more.

Carlos Alcaraz, 22, and Jannik Sinner, 23, have combined to win the last five major titles and are the top two favorites to make it six at Roland Garros beginning May 25.

“We came out of the era of the ‘Big Three,’ the ‘Big Four,’and this is now the era of the ‘New Two.’ That’s who these guys are,” two-time French Open champion Jim Courier said Tuesday on a Zoom call with reporters. “They won the last five majors, and they’ve clearly shown that there’s separation there at the highest level, right? ”

Alcaraz beat Sinner in straight sets to win his first Italian Open on Sunday and is now ranked No. 2 in the world behind the Italian, who reached the final in Rome in his first tournament back after a two-month doping ban.

Sinner holds three major titles – all on hardcourts — while Alcaraz has won four Grand Slam titles (including the last two Wimbledons) and is the youngest man to win majors on all three surfaces. He will look to defend his French Open crown and win his fifth major beginning Sunday.

“Obviously, these two guys are such incredible athletes, and they’ve proven that they’re great champions,” former Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki said on the TNT call. “And what they’ve been able to do in a short amount of time was absolutely incredible. And obviously, Jannik winning in Australia, then making the finals [in Rome]

after not playing for three months, coming back in Rome and still being in tip top shape just shows what an incredible player that he is…. When [Alcaraz] is on his peak, I think he’s probably the best player in the world, but he’s a little bit more up and down and but I think it’s so fun to watch him just do the magic that he does in court.”

During the heyday of the ‘Big Three,’ they dominated so much, they prevented not one, but two generations of players from winning much of anything else. Djokovic remains active and is seeking a record 25th major in Paris. Nadal retired last year with 22 Slams. And Federer retired in 2022 with 20.

Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka each managed to win three Grand Slam titles during that era – and Murray is part of the so-called “Big Four.”

But Andy Roddick only managed to win one major during his career – at the 2003 U.S. Open – while losing four major finals to Federer: Wimbledon (2004-’05 and ’09) and US Open (’06). Roddick remains the last American man to win a major title – 22 years ago.

After Roddick retired in 2012, the “Big Three’ continued to make life miserable for another generation of men’s tennis players.

“I feel like those guys have taken away an entire generation of Grand Slam winners,” Roddick said in 2019.

Roddick pointed to Dominic Thiem, who has lost back-to-back French Open finals and before that one semifinal to Nadal, who finished with 14 Roland Garros titles.

“Thiem, he’s a three-time French Open winner if it’s not for that guy named Rafa,” Roddick said.

Consider that a quartet of top players slightly older than Thiem — Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov — have combined to win just one Grand Slam title, won by Cilic over Nishikori in the 2014 US Open final.

Now, a similar fate is being meted out to a new generation of players like Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev and many others.

Of that group, only Medvedev has a Grand Slam title – over Djokovic at the 2021 U.S. Open. The Russian also owns three losses in the Australian Open final – to Djokovic, Nadal and this year to Sinner. He’s also lost to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon semifinals the last two years.

Zverev is 0-3 in Slam finals, losing in Melbourne this year to Sinner and to Alcaraz in Paris a year ago.

Rublev, meantime, is 0-10 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, losing three times to Medvedev and twice to Djokovic. His most recent quarterfinal loss was to Sinner in Melbourne this year.

Fritz has lost in three Slam quarterfinals, including once apiece to Nadal and Djokovic and once to Lorenzo Musetti. He reached his first Slam final at last year’s U.S. Open, losing in straights to Sinner.

Entering the French Open, Zverev, Djokovic, Ruud, Jack Draper and Musetti are listed as favorites after Alcaraz and Sinner. Someone else could challenge the “New Two,” but Courier isn’t betting on it.

“It’s pretty clear that there’s a big gap between them and the rest of the field, at least on clay,” he said. “Maybe on some other surfaces, that could tighten, but I doubt it so for me, this is the ‘New Two.”’ We’re really in the early innings of it. They’re healthy. It looks like they’re going to be dominant for a long time.”