Who could join Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner in new Big Three? John McEnroe reveals

India Today

10 hours ago

The American tennis great, John McEnroe, highlighted how the sport was in need of one more star to rival the towering modern-day stars in Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to form the next generation's 'Big-Three'.The term is a fairly common usage to denote the trio of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who ruled the sport for about two decades. With Federer and Nadal having retired and Djokovic already going on a downward spiral in terms of his form, the sport has seen Alcaraz and Sinner emerge as the two best players in the men's singles division.advertisementAlcaraz has already begun dominating, with two consecutive Wimbledon and French Open titles and a lone US Open crown in 2022. Similarly, Sinner is also making his mark, with the Australian Open and US Open titles to his name.
With Wimbledon set to begin on June 30, later this month, both men will be considered favourites to take home the men's singles title. But the question remains: does anyone have what it takes to rival these two on the court?"It's going to be an interesting time to see if there's another player or two who can break in with those two the way Novak (Djokovic) did when he was trying to get to the same level as Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal)," McEnroe was quoted as saying by Reuters.The recent French Open final was a testament to how hard-fought the rivalry between the two top stars is. Despite being two sets down, Alcaraz saved three match points and staged a stunning comeback to win the contest, which turned out to be the longest final in French Open history.advertisement"It shows you what type of player he was that he was able to do that. But right now, there's a void," he added.WHO CAN RIVAL ALCARAZ-SINNER DOMINANCE?When it comes to who can rival these two, McEnroe mentioned some of the younger stars in Jakub Mensik (19), Joo Fonseca (18), and Ben Shelton (22) as his picks."One of those two guys or Ben would be my choice right now," McEnroe said."I think it would be important to get another guy or two to add to the mix. That would be really helpful," he added.Shelton is probably amongst the well-known faces, considering he is placed at 10th in the ATP rankings. His most notable feat was making it to the Australian Open semi-final in 2025.Mensik is still making his way up to the top tiers, but he has already had one win over Djokovic in the Miami Open earlier this year, in straight sets. It's not every day that the Serbian legend gets taken down like this, and it could be a precursor for what to expect later on in his career.Fonseca had his highlight-reel moment when he took down Andrey Rublev in a straight-set victory at the Australian Open, his first major debut. Since then, he hasn't hit those levels but looks to be on track to make it to the big leagues consistently.advertisement"It was unheard of what we have watched over the last 20 years, and you can make the argument that what we're seeing now is even faster and different from what we saw even five years ago," he said."I can't wait to see what it's going to be like in 10 years, or five years even."But at the moment, it seems to be a duopoly between Alcaraz and Sinner, and McEnroe suggested that the pattern hold until and unless injuries come into play as a big deterrent in their respective careers.- Ends