After meeting in two consecutive Grand Slam finals, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will be the overwhelming favourites to reach the championship match at the US Open.
Alcaraz and Sinner played out another classic in the final of Wimbledon earlier this month, following their five-set thriller at Roland Garros, which lasted five hours and 29 minutes.
The two have split the last seven major titles between them, and look set to dominate men’s tennis for years to come.
However, former US Open champion Dominic Thiem thinks there are four players who can stop the ‘new two’ at Flushing Meadows in September.
Photo by Daniel Kopatsch/Getty ImagesDominic Thiem assesses the level of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
In an interview with ‘Cronache di Tennis‘, Thiem said: “The finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon were incredible. They raised the bar of this sport beyond what we were used to.
“They play faster and faster, but they make fewer mistakes and move better and better. I didn’t expect two more generational talents to arrive so quickly after the Big Three. And Novak is still playing.”
“Today they’re too far ahead. Then they, too, can lose: we saw it with Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon, or even Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz, and Jack Draper, if they play perfectly.
“I doubt they’ll win every Slam in the next 10 years, but today they’re one step ahead of everyone.
“I would have liked to play against Alcaraz and Sinner in my prime. I don’t know how it would have ended, but we would have had fun.”
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty ImagesPlayers who have beaten Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in 2025
In 2025 so far, Alcaraz has played 54 matches on the ATP Tour and has lost just six of them.
His first defeat of the season came at the Australian Open, where he bowed out in the quarter-finals to Novak Djokovic.
During February and March, he suffered defeats in three consecutive tournaments, losing to Jiri Lehecka in Qatar, Jack Draper in Indian Wells, and David Goffin in Miami.
At the Barcelona Open, he was beaten in the final by Holger Rune, before going on a 24-match winning streak, which ended in the Wimbledon final against Sinner.
The world number one, on the other hand, has only lost three times this season, the first of which came in the Italian Open final at the hands of Alcaraz.
After losing to the Spaniard again in the Roland Garros final, his most recent defeat was to Alexander Bublik in Halle.