Now that the U.S. Open has come to a close and new world rankings are being released, it's inevitable that tennis commentators will begin to make new predictions on the upcoming year as the world patiently awaits the next Grand Slam tournament — the Australian Open — in January. At the core of every discussion are the two players who have dominated the pro tour for the last two years, taking the last eight Grand Slams in a row. Amidst all the discourse surrounding Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, I believe that the two players have the potential to form the greatest sports rivalry of all time.

The idea of a rivalry in sports tends to be subjective. In the sports world, there are a few different rivalries that come to most people’s heads when they think about the all time greats. For example, soccer has some of the most infamous in this case: Manchester United vs. Manchester City or FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. These rivalries are infamous but they aren’t always on equal footing. While the organizations might be in opposition, players cycle throughout the club’s history so it can be challenging to get attached to person vs. person competitions, even if the teams are pushing for it. These player rivalries that line up with organization rivalries are very rare but are usually propelled to the forefront of sports news by the media. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson is a good example of this, aligning with the age old Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers rivalry. However, most organization rivalries just are constant because the two teams aren’t always evenly matched or don’t always compete against each other at high levels. The Red Sox and Yankees have only met in the playoffs twice in the last 20 years. The Celtics and Lakers have only played against each other two times in the playoffs since 1990. These team rivalries are “great” by reputation but they rarely have consistent competition over multiple years, if at all. All time great rivalries are usually the result of players, not teams.

When you think of player vs. player, there are a few names that come to mind that I think Sinner and Alcaraz are on the trajectory to surpass. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the greatest competitors that have ever touched a soccer field. A big part of their rivalry is how great they both were. Both players were actively competing for being the best soccer player of all time while also playing in rival clubs. There is a very similar case with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Each of these tennis legends competed against each other at a top, previously unseen level. These players were established as the best of the best and their competition against each other only furthered their prestige. If you look up the best soccer players of all time, Messi and Ronaldo are always going to be in the top five of any given list. The same can be said about tennis and the “Big Three.” So how will Sinner and Alcaraz possibly measure up?

Alcaraz and Sinner are currently the number one and number two in Association of Tennis Professionals world rankings respectively, and they have been the top two players in the world for over a year. They have won a total of 10 grand slams and 14 ATP 1000 tournaments between the two of them. The last eight grand slams were won by one of the pair. Alcaraz has only lost six matches this year and two were against Sinner. Sinner has only lost five matches this year and two were against Alcaraz. Sinner only dropped three sets in the entire French Open and they were all against Alcaraz. Alcaraz only dropped one set in the U.S. Open and it was against Sinner. They are only at the beginning of their careers which puts them both on track to surpass the Big Three, who were not able to establish this level of dominance this early in their career. 

Although Sinner and Alcaraz are consistently playing each other at a new peak of tennis dominance on the biggest stages in the world, that is not the only factor in their potentially all time great rivalry. They matched up against each other as early in their lives as 12 and 14 so they have already been playing against each other for 10 years consistently, and as previously stated, they are at the beginning of their careers. Tennis players often have longer and more sustained primes when compared to other sports so if we think Alcaraz and Sinner are great now, they have the potential to reach unimaginable levels of success. By the end of their careers they could have played over three decades against each other.

The only way I see this rivalry not playing out as an all time great is an injury or a new player finding footing in their top ranks. Sinner has unfortunately had his career plagued with injuries, although mostly minor, and health issues have impacted his performances before and even led to him retiring in the Cincinnati Open earlier this year. And then there is always the potential that there will be a third player who can join their rivalry, like Djokovic — and to a much lesser extent Andy Murray — did to Federer and Nadal. 

Analysts suggest that the top prospects to challenge the Alcaraze, Sinner rivalry are most likely Ben Shelton and Jack Draper, but while both are promising players and could maybe steal a slam off Sinner and Alcaraz in the future, their development has not been nearly as fast. Other more established options like Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev or Alex di Minaur could also step up and join the elite play of “Sincaraz”, but after seeing so many failed attempts it doesn’t seem possible. Unless something truly remarkable occurs, I suggest we all sit back and watch the absolute dominance on display by these two players as they surely will end up having the greatest sports rivalry of all time.