Former tennis star and Wimbledon winner Lleyton Hewitt made a huge remark that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will compete for the Grand Slams for years to come, just like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal did in the past.
Sinner claimed his first-ever Grand Slam by defeating Daniil Medvedev in a five-setter at the Australian Open 2024 final. Meanwhile, Alcaraz, at age 20, is already a two-time Slam winner and one of his major came with a victory over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final.
Federer and Nadal created one of the greatest rivalries of all time as the two competed with one another in 40 matches, with the latter leading 24-16 overall.
The two dominated the sport for years until Djokovic came in and dethroned both and fast forward to 2024, the Serb, who will turn 37 in May, believes he still has a lot to offer.
However, Hewitt said that a new tennis era is on the mark where Sinner and Alcaraz would lead and dominate the sport for many years to come.
"I think this is going to be one of the great rivalries moving forward, the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry. Potentially like the Roger-Rafa one we saw for so many years as well. And it's intriguing. Both game styles are slightly different, their upbringings are different as well, so I'm really excited. I think tennis needs these new guys coming through,” Hewitt said.
Hewitt admitted that it took Sinner time to claim his first Grand Slam but Alcaraz just came out of nowhere and took the world by surprise when he won the US Open 2022, at the age of 19.
“There’s been plenty of talk about Sinner for three or four years, that he’s a possible Grand Slam champion and world No.1 but Alcaraz came out of nowhere and really took that from him. I think that really spurred Jannik on to try and find a way to be able to win these titles.”
It is worth mentioning that Alcaraz broke Djokovic’s 10-year unbeaten streak as he denied the Serb his fifth consecutive Wimbledon final in 2023. On the other hand, Sinner became the first player to overcome the 24-time Grand Slam winner in this year's Australian Open semi-final.