Carlos Alcaraz has arguably summed up in a few short words what makes his rivalry with Jannik Sinner different from the one between the ‘Big 3’.
Both Alcaraz and Sinner have had injury-affected years in 2026, with the former missing the French Open and Wimbledon with a wrist injury and the latter sitting out the US Open with a knee problem.
After making the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows, Alcaraz is preparing for Laver Cup action for Team Europe this weekend, while Sinner is hoping to return at the Beijing Open next week.
The two players have only met once this year, with the Italian coming out on top in the Monte Carlo Masters final. Now, the Spaniard admits he “misses” his great rival.
He told BBC Sport, “I have text him not too much, but a few times when he has been winning everything, mostly at the beginning of the year.
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“I miss him, I miss seeing him around, playing against him. He pushes me to be a better player. People will be waiting for those matches, so I think it’s going to be better.”
That 11-word segment about missing Sinner is arguably in stark contrast to the rivalries between Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer – who won a combined 66 Grand Slams.
Djokovic admitted when Nadal and Federer retired earlier this decade, a part of him left with them. But during his career, he was never on such good terms with the two.
Indeed, last year, he said on his two great rivals, “We have never been friends. Between rivals, it is not possible, but we have never been enemies. I’ve always had respect for Federer, he was one of the greatest of all time. He had an extraordinary impact, but I’ve never been close to him.”
In 2023, Federer even admitted that he was not a fan of Nadal early on in his career, although the pair have since bonded a lot more over the years.
“We started respecting the rivalry,” he said at the time. “We almost miss it, playing each other every weekend. Back in the day we couldn’t stand each other probably for that.”
Nadal was reportedly not a fan of Djokovic’s impressions of him earlier in his career, with it sometimes coming across that there was a bit of disdain for the Serb, along with a huge amount of respect for his on-court talents.
