Sinner vs Alcaraz: Great new age rivalry beckons again in US Open final

It almost seems like a throwback to the era of Big Three in their prime. The men’s final match-up at the US Open on Sunday reads the same for three slams on the trot now between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, once again underlining that this is the new great rivalry of the game.

 The pair contested the past two Grand Slam finals - Alcaraz saving three championship points to triumph at Roland Garros before world No.1 Sinner struck back to capture the Wimbledon crown. The Spaniard enters the showdown with a 9-5 head-to-head advantage but the way the Italian world No.1 has raised his game after being perceived as an outsider of sorts who soared to the top, there is now little or nothing to separate the two.

Expectations for an encore between the two began building up since the the 22-year-old Spaniard, already the owner of five slams, wore down the ageless Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the first semi-final. Sinner, on the other hand, had to work harder to find his way past the 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime who took a set off him in the semi-final. Now that the stage is set for the dream final which will decide on the world No.1, the statisticians of the game will have a busy time to rummage the records that are going to be at stake.

The rolling ranking system of ATP betrays some staggering truths about how the young duo had been dominating the men’s game over the last three years – with Djokovic, the GOAT with 24  slams, struggling to match up with them despite his mental toughness and all-court expertise. The reticent Sinner has held on to the top spot for 65 consecutive weeks since first capturing it on 10 June last year and now has a chance to extend his reign at the summit.

 Alcaraz, on the other hand, first rose to world No. 1 at the US Open only in 2022 when he defeated Casper Ruud in a winner-takes-all final to claim his maiden grand slam title and become the youngest No. 1 in history. It ushered in the rise of one of the most precocious talents of the game as questions were being asked about the future appeal of men’s tennis after the exit of the Big Three.

Well, it seems to be in safe hands for the moment provided both Alacaraz and Sinner can retain this consistency and peak fitness. When the later made the final at the expense of Auger-Aliassime last evening, he became only the fourth man in the professional era - after Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic - to reach all four Grand Slam finals in a single season and youngest at 24 years 22 days as on the final day.

Sinner has also joined the trio of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal as the only men with five consecutive grand slam final appearances. Nadal reached five straight in 2011-12, Djokovic six straight in 2015-16 and Federer a whopping 10 consecutive grand slam finals during his pomp in 2005-2007.

No wonder, Sinner is pleased as punch when he said after making the final: ‘’Amazing season. The Grand Slams are the most important tournaments we have and finding myself again in another final, especially the last one this season, with an amazing crowd ... it doesn’t get any better,’’ Sinner said.

 A cracker of a final certainly looms in New York!