As Carlos Alcaraz wins another US Open, can anyone challenge these Big Two?

NEW YORK -- Carlos Alcaraz threw his arms in the air, before a wide smile spread across his face and he crouched down on his knees. He had just won the 2025 US Open title, in front of a captivated crowd of 24,000 on Arthur Ashe Stadium. But his real celebration could wait.

Before anything else, he needed to hug and congratulate his opponent Jannik Sinner. The pair -- fiercest of rivals on the court but genuine friends off of it -- were all smiles and compliments as they met at the net. They then walked off the court with their arms wrapped over one another's shoulders in a show of genuine admiration.

It had been the third straight meeting in a major final between the two, and Sunday's final had been a can't-miss match -- with ticket prices in the thousands and the world No. 1 ranking on the line.

In the end, it had been Alcaraz who earned the surprisingly straightforward 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory for his sixth major title.

But no matter who ended up winning on Sunday, it was clear going into the match that men's tennis currently has two categories: Sinner and Alcaraz, and everyone else.

"I'm seeing you more than my family," Alcaraz joked during the trophy ceremony as he looked at Sinner.

After handily winning his quarterfinal match on Tuesday, Novak Djokovic, the 24-time major champion who has spent more weeks at No. 1 than anyone in history, acknowledged it would be difficult to beat Alcaraz in the semifinals and then would be a challenge if he were to face Sinner in the final. But he sounded optimistic.

"We know that they are the two best players in the world," he told reporters. "Everybody is probably expecting and anticipating the finals between the two of them. I'm going to try to, you know, mess up the plans of most of the people."

Three days later, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in a mostly one-sided affair, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2, to advance to the final. Djokovic's demeanor had notably shifted, and he sounded dejected, if not resigned to his fate, when speaking again to the media.

"It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the hurdle of Sinner [and] Alcaraz, in the best-of-five [in] the Grand Slams," said Djokovic flatly.

Sunday officially marked the first season since 2002 where no member of the Big Three -- Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- reached a major final. But it's abundantly clear a new era of dominance is upon us, and the baton has been passed. And while other players might not have the same physical concerns or limitations that the 38-year-old Djokovic has in lengthy matches, the obstacle of the new Big Two is real for every player on tour. After Alcaraz's victory on Ashe, the duo has combined to win the past eight majors -- every Slam since the start of the 2024 season. And the titles are evenly split between them, with four apiece.

So now, with only some degree of hyperbole, the question is: Since neither the 22-year-old Alcaraz or the 24-year-old Sinner are likely at their peak yet, can any other man win a major in the near future?

Two years ago that question might have seemed far-fetched. Ludicrous even. At the end of the 2023 season, Alcaraz had two major titles to his name and Sinner had reached his first Slam semifinal that season but had yet to win a title. Both of their talents were clear, and their ceilings were limitless, but neither was exactly a given to contend for every title.

Djokovic, on the other hand, had won three of the year's four Slam titles and showed no signs of slowing down. At the year-end ATP Finals, in which he won, he was confident in his abilities to break the all-time major record and then some in 2024.

"Well, you can win four Slams and an Olympic gold," said Djokovic when asked about his goals for the upcoming season.

Having previously spoken during the season about how much he liked his "chances in Grand Slams, against anybody on any surface, best-of-five," it seemed he believed those ambitions were more than attainable. Sinner, who Djokovic defeated for the ATP Finals title, called him, "the best player in the world."

But he vowed to learn from the experience.

"I think generally today I saw that I still have to improve, for sure," said Sinner at the time. "I believe that he makes me a better player, like all the other players have done who I lost to. I now have to work on this."

Sinner went on to win his major title at the Australian Open just two months later -- to start the 2024 season and to officially unveil the "Sincaraz" era of dominance.

In 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner have faced one another in the previous three Slam finals. Alcaraz won the French Open in a dramatic comeback, and Sinner spoiled Alcaraz's bid for a three-peat at Wimbledon in four sets. Throughout the last eight majors, they have collectively faced four other opponents in the finals: Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev (twice).

After Zverev lost in straight sets to Sinner at the Australian Open in January, he remarked to the crowd, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to lift the trophy."

Fritz, the current world No. 4 who fell in straight sets to Sinner in the 2024 US Open final, was pragmatic in his assessment of Sinner and Alcaraz at this stage.

"They've both improved a lot," said Fritz at the start of the tournament this year. "I mean, you would expect it because they're both younger, so they're still improving, getting better. They have taken massive strides over the last two years to become very clear, dominant players.

"I think they motivate the rest of the guys to improve, because you're going to have to improve a lot if you want to, you know, beat them and contend for the biggest titles."

And some others have indeed shown flashes of promise. In the seven Masters 1000-level events this year, Alcaraz has won three (and Sinner was sidelined for four of them as he served a three-month suspension) but four other players -- Jack Draper, Jakub Menšík, Casper Ruud and Ben Shelton -- have also emerged victorious.

The 22-year-old Shelton has now won three career titles, including at last month's Canadian Open, and has twice reached a major semifinal, including earlier this year in Melbourne. He currently holds a career-high ranking of No. 6.

"I think those two guys now, for the next few years, are the ones to beat, [but] someone like a Ben Shelton can disrupt them," said former world No. 4 and current analyst Mary Joe Fernandez. "I've been really happy with his progress, seeing him develop as a player. I still think he's got a lot of improvement left to go.

"[Shelton] has weapons. He's an entertainer, another player that really has fun out there. If he continues on this path of improving, he could be someone that can disrupt them. I mean, there's a few other [players], for sure. But it's going to be tough because these guys have really set the bar very high."

Shelton has beaten Sinner only once in seven meetings and has never defeated Alcaraz. He was forced to retire from his third-round match in New York due to a shoulder injury.

Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca, currently ranked No. 44, is another name frequently mentioned as a future contender and someone who might one day be able to knock off Sinner and Alcaraz from their shared perch. Former world No. 8 John Isner, who spent the entirety of his career playing with the "Big Three," believes Fonseca has perhaps the best chance of anyone to challenge the duo.

"I know we pump up Fonseca a lot, but for the sake of the health of our sport, and I actually do believe this, I am going to say yes. He can catch up to these guys and get to the conversation," said Isner on his "Nothing Major" podcast earlier this summer. "I am not saying that it's next year or the year after, but in the next four or five years he can be in the conversation where he is one of the top four favorites to win each Slam he enters."

Fonseca, who made his major main draw debut this season and reached the third round at the French Open and Wimbledon, has yet to face either player. He lost in the second round in New York.

So, for now anyway, Sinner and Alcaraz appear in a league of their own. There is nearly a 5,000-point gap between the pair and No. 3 Zverev -- and the rest of the field in the rankings.

Throughout the US Open, the two were blisteringly dominant. Heading into the final, both had won at least 95% of their service games -- with Alcaraz at 98% and having won all but two. Sinner was victorious in 42% of his return games, with Alcaraz taking about a third of his. Each had three matches throughout their respective runs that lasted two hours or less. After Sinner handed Alexander Bublik, the No. 23 seed, a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 loss in just 81 minutes, a shell-shocked but amused Bublik congratulated him at the net by saying, "You're so good. I'm not bad, like what the f---?"

Alcaraz's opponents had similar sentiments. "I'll just say I think that today I kind of met the Grand Slam version of Carlos," said No. 20 seed Jiri Lehecka after a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 loss in the quarterfinals. "That's the way how I would like to think about it, because yeah, it's been a difficult match."

By meeting in Sunday's final, it marked just the second time in the Open Era that two men have accounted for all of the major titles in two seasons, joining Federer and Nadal in 2006 and 2007. The pair became the first men in the Open Era to play in three consecutive major finals during the same calendar year, and the first duo in the sport to do so since Venus and Serena Williams in 2002.

Of course, tennis can be a fickle sport and things can change quickly. For several years, Medvedev appeared to be the next big thing and among the heirs apparent to replace the Big Three. He reached six major finals between 2019 and 2024, won the 2021 US Open, and even briefly held the world No. 1 ranking. But this year, he won only one match at a Slam and was upset in the opening round at the French Open, at Wimbledon and during this fortnight at the US Open.

While Medvedev certainly could turn things around in 2026 -- and Sinner and Alcaraz have shown no signs of a future slump -- the 29-year-old's current struggles are simply proof of how difficult it is to sustain such a high level over an extended period.

At this point, while the pair are in a category all their own and the clear favorites for just about everything going forward, it's anyone's guess what will happen. And just like Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro found a way to win on the biggest stages in the era of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, there's also room for someone else in the current tennis ecosystem.

"I do think Sinner and Alcaraz over the next three, four years will dominate," said former US Open quarterfinalist and ESPN broadcaster Patrick McEnroe. "Do I think they're going to win every single one? No."