MELBOURNE, Australia — (AP) — When Carlos Alcaraz is on court for a training session, perhaps working on his newly revamped service motion, he's doing so to buttress a game already good enough to claim four Grand Slam titles.
He's also got his young rival, Jannik Sinner, in mind.
"The good thing for me is, when I'm seeing him winning titles, when I'm seeing him in the top of the ranking, it forces me to practice even harder every day. In practice, I'm just thinking (about) the things that I have to improve to play against him," Alcaraz said Saturday, a day before the start of the Australian Open. "That, I think, is great for me: Having him (and) such a great rivalry, so far, just to (force me to) give (my best), every day."
Alcaraz, 21, and Sinner, 23, head into the 2025 tennis season at the top of the men's game, coming off a year that portended greatness for both. With Rafael Nadal now joining Roger Federer in retirement, leaving 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic as the lone remaining member of the Big Three on tour, it appears as though Alcaraz and Sinner have separated themselves from the rest of the next generation, each taking two of the four Slam singles trophies in 2024.
Forever, it seemed, the sport's most important laurels were dominated by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, and anyone harboring hopes of claiming then needed to defeat at least one, and often two, of that trio.
The names have changed, but the dynamic is similar.
“I feel like now, with Jannik and with Carlos, it kind of moved toward the same way, just with new guys. You have to go through them to win big tournaments. It’s as simple as that,” said Alexander Zverev, a two-time major finalist who is seeded No. 2 at Melbourne Park, between No. 1 Sinner and No. 3 Alcaraz. “They both won two Grand Slams (last) year. And they’re the two best players in the world, for sure. And you have to beat them to win the tournament.”
Sinner is the defending champion in Australia, and went on to also win the U.S. Open in September, part of a season in which he went 73-6 with eight titles — but also dealt with a doping case in which he tested positive twice for trace amounts of an anabolic steroid, blamed it on accidentally being exposed to a banned substance via a massage from his trainer and was exonerated. (The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed that ruling; a closed-door hearing will be held at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland on April 16-17.)
Alcaraz exited from the Australian Open in the quarterfinals against Zverev last January, but then triumphed at the French Open, getting past Zverev in the final, and Wimbledon, where he won against Djokovic in the final for the second year in a row.
On Sunday, Zverev faces wild-card entry Lucas Pouille at night, after defending champion Aryna Sabalenka takes on 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens. Other top names scheduled for Day 1 action include 2024 Australian runner-up and Paris Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen and three-time major finalist Casper Ruud.
Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic, along with five-time major champ Iga Swiatek, will get started Monday or Tuesday.
If Alcaraz, whose first major title came at the 2022 U.S. Open at age 19 and propelled him to a debut at No. 1, wins this Australian Open, he would be the youngest man in tennis history to complete a career Grand Slam, with at least one championship from each of the sport's four most prestigious events.
“It's truly remarkable,” former player Feliciano Lopez said, “what he has achieved in the last three years.”
Alcaraz and Sinner already are establishing quite a head-to-head rivalry, one that already has shown glimpses of the potential to become as memorable as Federer vs. Nadal, or Djokovic vs. Nadal.
“You have more eyes on us,” Sinner said, "because this is a match most people want to see."
Overall, Alcaraz leads 6-4.
In 2024 alone, he went 3-0 against Sinner, who was 73-3 against everyone else, with setbacks only against Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“When I’m playing against him, I have a different mindset, a little bit. I mean, when you're facing the ... best player in the world, you have to do something different — different preparation or different mindset or whatever," said Alcaraz, who was 54-13 with four titles last season. "When I’m facing him, I just know that I have to play my best if I want to win. That’s it. Probably if I have a bad day against Jannik, it’s 99% that you’re going to lose.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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