And while Alexander Zverev currently holds the second position in the rankings and is now viewed as the “best player to never win a slam”, there’s no question that the rivalry to watch in this current era in the sport will be between Sinner and Alcaraz – they are indisputably the two best players in the world.
Tennis has been awash for nearly 60 years with stellar rivalries, especially on the men’s side.
Since the open era commenced in 1968, there’s been a nearly uninterrupted run of rivalries: the Australians – Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe – until the early 70s; then the Jimmy Connors-Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe duels; followed by the oft-overlooked mid-to-late-80s period when Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker routinely competed against each other for majors; then Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi’s rivalry defined the 90s.
The Australian Open exists on its own in the tennis calendar at the start of the year – not really connected to what came before or what ensues immediately after; it’s nearly five months removed from both the US Open that precedes it and the French Open that follows it.
While the 18 year-old Brazilian has only made the main draw of a slam once (2025 Australian Open), there appears to be consensus among the tennis cognoscenti that Fonseca and his preternaturally powerful groundstrokes will undoubtedly be the next big thing in the sport.
