Carlos Alcaraz maintained the belief that his rivalry with Jannik Sinner has the capability of transcending the sport and 'dreams' for it to be on par with that of the Big Three.
Rivalries between the Big 3 have defined modern tennis and left an ever-lasting imprint for nearly two decades. In the current era of men's tennis, few rivalries have had a spellbinding effect on that between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
In the past 18 months, Alcaraz and Sinner have served some breathtaking matches, with their US Open quarterfinal last year winning plenty of tennis fans' hearts. It is Alcaraz's wish that their budding rivalry will develop in high estimation to that of Federer-Nadal, Djokovic-Federer, or Nadal-Djokovic.
"Well, honestly, it could be great if it’s like Rafa and Roger. It would be the dream of ourselves and of course, from the tennis fans I think. But I don’t know. Rafa and Roger, Roger and (Novak) Djokovic, Djokovic and Rafa, whatever it is."
It is always advisable to temper such head-spinning hype with a pint of caution. Sinner was asked a similar question, and from his point of view, he is excited by their rivalry, in which he currently leads 4-3 after winning last week's blockbuster semifinal in Beijing.
Sinner, however, reckons the Spaniard has been the better player in their embryonic years. At 20, Alcaraz is a two-time Grand Slam champion in addition to collecting four Masters titles. Alcaraz's rivalry with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has certainly garnered more attention this season, according to the Italian. He can't conclusively predict the future as there are many great players on tour.
"What I think and feel is that at the moment is that the rivalry against me and Carlos, we played against, I don't say many times, but we played already a couple of meetings. Once it goes his way and once my way. We have a very even scoring."
"And this makes it happen that every time we step on court both of us can win. But in another way, I feel like he has achieved many more things than I did at the moment. Me personally, I think at the moment the biggest rivalry he has is Novak because of certain circumstances of points and World No. 1 and Grand Slams throughout the last 2 years."
"This is what I think, in the future we never know, because there are so many other players, young players. Daniil is playing incredible tennis. Zverev is back at 100%. Holger and Musetti...there are many great players. I can't tell you what the rivalry will be, I would love to for sure."
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