Nothing to do for Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, at this point there is no more time: a dream that did not come true.
When Roger Federer exited the scene, the curtain definitely came down on the Big Three era. And it was at that moment that many fans thought that tennis would never again give us the kind of thrills that multiple Slam champions who fought unsparingly over the years have given us. They were wrong, however.
It did not take long for the curtain to rise again and a new era to begin, officially. Epoch of which, right now, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are banners, undisputed protagonists. The Spaniard and the Italian have taught us that replicating the successes of the Big Three can be done, as well as having amply demonstrated that we will not be bored one bit, even in the absence of that “triple entente” that for years has made insiders and non-insiders alike dream.
The two European champions are grinding out record after record and, this year, have also more than evenly divided the 4 Slams. A sign, indeed, that they will dominate for quite some time and that neither of them has randomly lifted the cup of a Major. Just as, for that matter, it is also no coincidence that the phenomenon from Murcia has managed, in the past few hours, thanks to his umpteenth success, to obtain a record that we cannot but call absolutely incredible.
Alcaraz better than the Big Three: like him no one ever
Unbelievable because, think about it, none of the Big Three has ever managed to achieve, although Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have won practically anything possible during their extraordinary careers.
The record came at the moment when, at the culmination of a pyrotechnic and “bloody” battle, Alcaraz captured his fifth 500 category title. He did so by beating in the final precisely his friend and rival Sinner and leaving “behind” the three champions who lit up the circuit with their skill and mastery. He left them behind to the extent that none of the 3 of them, unlike Carlos, won at least one 500 title on all three playing surfaces.
Not because they were not capable, we would miss it, but because they preferred to participate, in the past, in higher category tournaments, “snubbing” the 500 and losing, thus, the chance to add a new record to their splendid collection of firsts. Yet another satisfaction, then, for the unstoppable Iberian.