Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been a class above on the ATP Tour recently, dominating their rivals.
The world number one and two have shared the previous eight Grand Slam titles between themselves, winning four each.
In 2025, Sinner won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while Alcaraz won Roland Garros and the US Open.
Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
Ranked one and two in the world, the gap to their closest challenger, Alexander Zverev, is currently 4,850 points.
Weighing in with his thoughts on the pair’s dominance, tennis legend Boris Becker has criticized their rivals for having the wrong attitude.
Boris Becker is starting to get ‘bothered’ by players’ attitudes towards Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
During the latest edition of the ‘Becker Petkovic’ podcast, the six-time Slam winner called out nine players on the ATP Tour.
“[Alexander] Zverev, [Jack] Draper, [Taylor] Fritz, [Alex] De Minaur, [Casper] Ruud, [Holger] Rune, [Daniil] Medvedev, [Andrey] Rublev, [Karen] Khachanov, is number ten in the world. Where are the others?” he asked.
“That bothers me a bit. They’re always like… ‘Yes, [Jannik] Sinner and [Carlos] Alcaraz are so much better than we are.’
“Yeah, why do you think?
Photo by Gisela Schober/Getty Images
“What bothers me about the rest is that they are satisfied with the role of second or third. Quarterfinals are ok, or semifinals are ok.
“No, it’s not ok if you want to be the best tennis player in the world.”
All but one of the nine players Becker mentioned have a combined losing head-to-head record against Alcaraz and Sinner.
Players Boris Becker mentioned and their H2H record v Jannik Sinner/Carlos Alcaraz
Becker doesn’t believe it’s as difficult to beat the world number one and two as their rivals are making it seem, and used Felix Auger-Aliassime’s performance against Sinner in New York as evidence for his point.
“Now I come back to this semi-final against [Felix] Auger-Aliassime. Someone has finally thought strategically, How can I become dangerous to Sinner?” he said.
“Logically, don’t get into long exchanges at the baseline, but play as flat and fast as possible. That’s not rocket science. You don’t have to study philosophy.
“It’s like that, just look at old matches, see what worked, what didn’t work. Auger-Aliassime played damn well and also had the chance to get to a fifth set, had a break point at the beginning of the fourth.”
The 57-year-old proceeded to suggest that Auger-Aliassime had exposed a key weakness in Sinner’s game.
“The medical time out for Sinner…that’s the second time Sinner has had a medical time out at a Grand Slam,” said Becker.
“This time it was the abdominal muscle, in Melbourne it was the heat, so you have to ask yourself, is he physically more vulnerable than the others?”
Only time will tell if Sinner’s rivals can take advantage of any physical vulnerabilities when Grand Slam tennis returns at the Australian Open in 2026.
Andrea Petkovic says tennis ‘needs’ Holger Rune to play well again
Once tipped for Grand Slam greatness just like Alcaraz and Sinner, Denmark’s Holger Rune hasn’t quite been able to keep up with them over the past few years.
He does, however, have a respectable head-to-head record against the pair (4-5), proving he has what it takes to compete.
It’s the consistency that lets Rune down, often losing in the early rounds of tournaments to lower-ranked players.
Becker’s co-host, Andrea Petkovic, wants to see Rune return to the top of the men’s game and begin challenging the dominant duo.
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
“Yes, I need a [Holger] Rune. Boris [Becker]. I heard Taylor Fritz, someone asked him before his match against Novak [Djokovic], is Novak the favorite today? He said, Yes, of course, he’s the favorite. You can’t say that,” she said.
“Taylor Fritz is a good guy; he really did think Djokovic was the favorite that day. But that’s why he lost for the 11th time to Novak Djokovic.
“I have the feeling that Holger Rune wouldn’t have said that.
“He would go what favorite? That’s why I need Holger Rune to play well again.”
After losing in the second round of the US Open, Rune will make his return to tennis at the Davis Cup, when Denmark play Spain this weekend.