Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz dominated the landscape of men’s tennis in 2024 and 2025, but they have not been given the platform to showcase their rivalry this season.
The two best players in men’s tennis have only played each other once, in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters, and the Australian Open was the only Grand Slam this year that they have both entered.
Alcaraz was forced to miss Roland Garros and Wimbledon due to a wrist injury and his return tournament, at the US Open, saw Sinner pull out with a knee injury.
The ATP Tour has faced intense scrutiny as a result and Marion Bartoli believes she knows why injuries have plagued the men’s game in 2026.
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Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, the former Wimbledon champion said: “The problem is the surfaces are getting slower and slower, but the balls are extremely heavy.
“I understand that point of view, of course, but you have to take into consideration the health of the players, because without players, you have no tour.
“Whether they make the surface faster or they make the ball lighter, but one has to come back to what it was before, because at some point, if we keep losing Sinner, Alcaraz, and the rest of the field, I mean, we don’t have much to talk about.”
Prior to 2026, the Italian and the Spaniard rarely missed events and they split the last eight Grand Slams equally in the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
During the 2025 season, Sinner and Alcaraz met six times, including in the final of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
The pair also met in finals at the Italian Open, the Cincinnati Open, and the ATP Finals.
They finished the 2025 season with Alcaraz on four victories and Sinner on two victories, and they basically propped up the men’s game and made it ten times more exciting.
The ATP Tour has certainly missed the spectacular rivalry between Sinner and Alcaraz and they will no doubt be looking to fix their issues with the balls, surfaces, and the schedule in order to revitalise it.
Sinner is currently expected back at the China Open at the end of September, but Alcaraz has once again opted to play the Japan Open at the same time.
The next likely time Sinner and Alcaraz can play each other on the ATP Tour is the Shanghai Masters, which is the penultimate Masters event on the calendar.
The Shanghai Masters takes place between October 5th and October 18th, so fans will still have to wait a little bit longer until a potential Sinner vs Alcaraz match.
