Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Jannik Sinner- The new ‘Big 4’ have arrived and are here to stay
Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune, and Carlos Alcaraz
From players hitting the ball with their wooden rackets on the fast lush green lawns of Wimbledon to the advancement in technology which is a lot more eye-catching, tennis continues to grow by keeping its roots in place. A lot has changed since the game’s inception in the 80s and to date, things are changing for the good.
Amidst these hundreds of years, players have come and gone. They have bestowed their excellence upon this great gallery of the sport and have rightly embarked on their presence in the history books. But without a feather of doubt, no story will match the story of the ‘Big 4’ in the tennis world.
The golden generation where Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray competed against each other in their prime is regarded as the most valued generation in tennis history. Taking nothing away from Murray, it was Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic who always challenged each other for the biggest titles. But amongst others, it was only Murray who remotely came very close to matching the other 3 and, hence, deserves a place in the Big 4.
The Big 4 dominated tennis for almost 15 years. From the 2005 French Open till the 2022 French Open, 69 grand slams were contested out of which, a whopping 63 were won by the Big 4- which speaks volumes about their dominance. But as things stand, Federer is retired, Nadal is struggling with constant injuries, Murray is nowhere close to his prime given he plays with a metallic hip, and Djokovic is 35. Realistically, only Djokovic is competing at the highest level and we are now seeing a transition, and thankfully, the future looks bright.
The new ‘Big 4’ are making long leaps
While a lot was talked about the NextGen for the last 3-4 years, they haven’t delivered as promised. Only Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev managed to win a major each, but the consistency that was expected wasn’t just there. Currently, neither Thiem nor Medvedev is in the Top 5. But looking ahead, the 2000s kids have delivered in the last few months.
Carlos Alcaraz was clearly the best player this season on the ATP Tour. He started the year by winning his maiden ATP 500 title and by the time he finished the season; he was a multiple Masters champion, a Grand Slam champion, and the youngest World No.1 at 19. This was clearly one of the best seasons by a teenager in recent years and one can’t help himself and compare him to his idol, Rafael Nadal.
At 22, Felix Auger-Aliassime is the oldest of the 2000s batch and towards the end of the season, he has finally started winning big. He always had the serve, and he always had the forehand, but it took him 9 finals to finally win an ATP title at the start of the season. Towards the end, he won 3 consecutive titles and was on a winning streak before Holger Rune snapped it in Bercy.
Holger Rune started the season outside the Top 100 and will end it inside the Top 10. He is definitely the breakthrough player of the year and has shown some serious class toward the end of the season. He made it to the final of the Sofia Open, won the Stockholm Open, and again finished runner-up at the Swiss Indoors. Then in Bercy, he defeated 5 Top 10 players consecutively, including Novak Djokovic in the final to win the biggest title of his career.
Jannik Sinner has been very consistent on the ATP Tour for the last couple of years and this year, came ever so close to beating big names at majors. He has made it to the last 8 of most of the tournaments he has played and won the Croatia Open this year where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
Not trying to go ahead of time, but all 4- Felix, Holger, Carlos, and Jannik have the game and mindset to become multiple Grand Slam champions. They are all young and have started beating the best in the business. Alcaraz resembles a young Nadal while Sinner’s killer instincts are similar to Djokovic’s. Felix brings Federer-like charisma to the court while Rune’s body language and spirit are a mix of Murray and Djokovic.
We definitely can’t predict what is in the bank for these 4 young men but the fact is, they are destined to fathom new boundaries and in a couple of decades, we might be out of fingers to count the number of records these 4 men broke.
Lakshya Chopra
(2596 Articles Published)