Sinner and Alcaraz seem unbeatable. But Federer and Nadal seemed like it too. Then Djokovic arrived. Meanwhile, new talents are growing
There was a time when it seemed impossible to imagine anyone capable of undermining Roger Federer And Rafael Nadal. They dominated everything, they alternated Slam titles like you change a shirt, and the rest of the circuit seemed condemned to play for crumbs. Then it arrived Novak Djokovicand we all know how that ended.
Today Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz inspire the same sense of elusiveness. Two tennis machines different in style and temperament, but both devastating. It’s difficult to find cracks in their games (despite Jannik’s recent defeats), difficult to imagine who can reduce the gap in the short term. A Djokovic, at the moment, cannot be seen on the horizon. But there are signs that something is moving, sure enough.
Djokovic didn’t appear out of nowhere. It took him years to build his mental and physical strength, he lost important matches before understanding how to win them, before discovering that he was celiac and radically changing his diet, before becoming the most successful player ever in terms of major trophies.
The history of tennis teaches that dominators are almost never undermined overnight. Those who pursue them must accumulate experience, results and awareness. And it often takes longer than you think.
The Next Gen Finals
There is a tournament that over the years has taken on a curious role in the debate on the future of tennis: the Next Gen Finals, the event reserved for the best Under 21s of the season. On the one hand it launched true champions, Sinner and Alcaraz above all, who drew inspiration from those experiences for their subsequent careers. On the other he saw a parade talents who seemed ready for anything and then got lost along the wayHyeon Chung and Denis Shapovalov among the best-known cases. The tournament doesn’t guarantee anything, but it filters. Those who arrive in Jeddah consistently have already demonstrated something.
The future Sinner and Alcaraz
Jakub Mensik it’s the first big name. The Czech seems to have reached full maturity in 2026: title in Auckland, semi-final in Doha with the scalp of Sinner, and an Australian Open interrupted only by physical ailments after reaching the second week of a Slam for the first time. Last year he had already won the 1000 in Miami. When he finds continuity with his service, he can scare anyone.
The path of Joao Fonsecaborn in 2006 and already an idol of a Brazil that hadn’t expected a tennis player like this since the days of Guga Kuerten. Passionate, imaginative, capable of winning the 250 in Buenos Aires and the 500 in Basel in the space of a few months, but also of going out in the first round of the Australian Open against an affordable opponent. The merits are crystal clear, the defects as well: recurring back problems and some missed passes in matches which end up paying dearly.
Arthur Philsat the age of twenty, he had won two 500s in one fell swoop: Hamburg and Tokyo. It had reached fourteenth place in the ranking. Then the stress fracture in his back forced him to miss Roland Garros 2025. But the Frenchman metabolised quickly: he also missed the last Australian Open as a precaution, then he reopened his shop and immediately reached the final in Doha.
Learner Tien it has the scent of the predestined. Vietnamese origins, parents who met on a tennis court (father, instructor, mother, thesis student), American by birth and tennis player by vocation. He has eliminated Medvedev three times in the last two seasons, is already close to the top 20, won the last Next Gen Finals and reached a final at 500 level in Beijing, losing to Sinner. In short, he seems to be serious.
There is also an Italian promise
It would be unfair not to mention two young talents who complete the picture and who have already crossed paths directly. Justin EngelGerman born in 2007, won the Hamburg Challenger at the age of 18 last October, in the final against Federico CinàSicilian of the same vintage. Engel has already collected victories on three different surfaces in ATP tournaments, entered the top 200 and established precocity records not seen since the days of Boris Becker. Cinà, nicknamed “Pallino” since childhood, comes from a tennis family (father former coach of Roberta Vinci, mother former professional) and has already won a match in a Masters 1000, the Miami Open 2025, at just 17 years old.
The possible future of tennis
No one seems capable, at least today, of building that trajectory inexorable which led Djokovic to overtake the two phenomena who seemed immovable. But Federer and Nadal, while they dominated, would not have bet a cent on the fact that a boy from Belgrade would one day surpass them both in number of Slams.
Sinner and Alcaraz dominate, and will probably dominate for a long time to come. But tennis has a short memory, and history is full of guys no one expected. It is also worth remembering the cases of who, how Stan Wawrinkatook years before finally exploding, winning three Slam titles after the age of thirty. Proof that in tennis things don’t always add up quickly, but sooner or later they do. For the moment, there is no Djokovic in sight. But who knows.
