Novak Djokovic initially struggled against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal but improved his fitness, flexibility, backhand and serve to become an elite in-match problem solver. He won three of four Grand Slams in 2011, converted the Big Two into a Big Three and later surpassed both to reach 24 majors. Federer and Nadal combined for 42 Grand Slam victories. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have split the last seven Slams and nine of the last 12, met in consecutive finals, and entered the US Open year with a combined 87-10 record, 4-4 head-to-head and 83-6 versus other opponents.
Over time, Djokovic mastered his fitness, his flexibility, his backhand and his serve and slowly became the best in-match problem solver the game has ever seen. He won three of four Slams in 2011 and forced the Big Two to become a Big Three. We never completely know how the future is going to unfold. We get a lot of the details right but whiff horribly on others.
Right now, it appears the men's game has entered another Big Two era, with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner having split the last seven Slams and nine of the last 12. (The other three, of course, were all won by Djokovic in 2023.) They've met in each of the last two Slam finals, and heading into the second round of the US Open, they were a combined 87-10 on the year -- 4-4 against each other and 83-6 against everyone else.
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