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The 5-hour, 29-minute battle between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the French Open on Sunday, 8 June, showcased — among other things — the birth of a great new rivalry.

The sense of occasion was hard to miss as, just two weeks back and on the very same centre court, the tennis world was awash with nostalgia at the sight of the ‘Big Four’ and memories of their famous rivalries.

There is no doubt that tennis fans in this millennium have been extremely fortunate to have had the trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic striding the courts together with Andy Murray — another former world No. 1 — and often putting them to the stiffest of tests.

Men's tennis rivalry is not quite dead with the dismantling of Big Four

The Federer–Nadal rivalry is considered the biggest of them all, with the head-to-head record 24–16 in favour of the Spaniard, while the Nadal–Djokovic face-off took pride of place in the later years. 

A measure of Djokovic’s greatness as an all-court player is the fact that the former world No.1 Serbian, owner of 24 slams, is the only player to have beaten Nadal in four clay-court finals — twice at Roland Garros.

The Federer–Djokovic epic face-offs are also etched in memory for their contrasting styles — and who could forget the epic 2019 Wimbledon final between the two, with Djoko having the last laugh?

Cut to this last finale between Alcaraz, the heir apparent to Nadal’s title of king of clay, and world No. 1 Sinner, who was eyeing his first clay-court slam after winning three hard-court ones so far (two Australian Opens and one US Open). If a measure of the quality of tennis rivalries is that there is virtually nothing to choose from between the two in such big games, the two Generation Next players showed that the future of men’s tennis is in able hands.

It is no surprise that Alcaraz, a product of a lengthy Spanish legacy in tennis and mentored by Juan Carlos Ferrero, reminds one of Nadal with his athleticism and retrievals — but Sinner was without a blemish in the first two sets. He will be cursing himself out for not being able to close out the three championship points in the fourth set, but he again hit back in the deciding set with crucial breaks, taking the match to the tie-breaker.

The contest was so intense that if asked who I would bet on to play for my life, the issue would have had to be settled by a toss of coin.

The Spaniard now shows a career clay record of 165–37 (per Tennis Live), which makes for a 82 per cent winning percentage; this include the 22–1 on clay this year. This should have certainly skewed the contest marginally in Alcaraz’ favour, but Sinner made him look vulnerable several times during the contest.

However, it’s to Alcaraz’s credit that he stepped up his game, with a show of character that one associates with the likes of the Big Three (Djokovic, Nadal, Federer) to come back from two sets down in easily the most demanding final out of his five slams so far. Alcaraz–Sinner’s head-to-head record is now 8–4 in favour of the Spaniard, but the bigger picture shows that each has pushed the other past their own limits in their pursuit of excellence.

In an interview before the final, Darren Cahill — Sinner’s coach since 2022 — broke it down: ‘’I know for a fact that with Carlos breaking through earlier than Jannik did, it pushed Jannik to be more professional and to address his physicality. He’s spent the past three years dedicating all those weeks off to working on his body and his physique, to make sure he can last five sets in Grand Slams, so he can have the success he’s having now.’’ 

The results certainly showed on Sunday — as did the mutual respect.

There can be no bigger an endorsement of what their rivalry means for men’s tennis, though, than the one from Djokovic after his straight-sets defeat to Sinner in the semi-final: ‘’They’re definitely great for tennis, both of them. I think their rivalry is something that our sport needs, no doubt.’’

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