Alexander Zverev misses out as legend names Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner’s biggest challengers
Tennis legends Jim Courier and Kyle Edmund have identified the players they believe are best equipped to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s dominance in the years ahead.
The Spaniard and the Italian have dominated men’s tennis over the past 18 months and look well placed to continue that trend.
Between them, Alcaraz and Sinner have won 10 of the last 11 Grand Slam titles, claimed the last two Year-End No 1 honours, and lifted nine of the previous 12 Masters 1000 trophies.
In January, Alcaraz became the youngest man to complete the Career Grand Slam by winning his maiden Australian Open title.
Sinner, meanwhile, has won all five Masters 1000 tournaments staged so far this season – a feat no player had previously achieved.
The Italian also joined Novak Djokovic as only the second man to have won all nine Masters 1000 events at least once.
At the start of April, the pair held a combined 26,640 ranking points, setting a record for any two players.
Remarkably, that total was also greater than the combined points of the rest of the men’s top eight (26,080).
Given their stranglehold on the tour, former British No 1 Edmund and four-time Grand Slam champion Courier debated which players could eventually break the duo’s dominance during an episode of the Beyond The Numbers podcast.
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“I think the guy who’s got that level on their day is [Jack] Draper,” began the Brit.
“It’s hard to know right now where he stands because he needs to spend some consistent time on court, but before, he had the ability and the game.
“That actual power and danger. Weapons. You need weapons to beat these guys, and he had that. So it’s a shame that he’s not here but I believe he has that.
“[Alex] De Minaur is missing something, which, you know, he’s the type of player who will be working extremely hard on that.
“I think lower down, for me, the guys I’ve seen that have that potential are [Joao] Fonseca and [Rafael] Jodar.
“They seem really exciting. They can build those weapons. Once they get a bit more experience, tour experience, week in, week out travelling, I think they can prove dangerous for the future.”
Draper has already shown he can trouble both Alcaraz and Sinner, despite holding a respectable, albeit losing, 3-5 combined head-to-head record against the pair.
The Brit stunned Sinner on the grass courts of Queen’s Club in 2021 before defeating Alcaraz at the same venue three years later. He also upset the Spaniard, then the defending champion, at Indian Wells last season.
Courier, who has become one of the sport’s most respected broadcasters since retiring, agreed with much of Edmund’s assessment but added another intriguing name.
“I agree with all of those, I’m gonna throw in Arthur Fils as well,” the American said.
“He has just put Goran Ivanisevic on his team, so his serve is going to improve.
“We know Goran improves everybody’s serve by lowering their ball toss and giving them better rhythm, so expect that to come.
“He moves great. He’s got a bomb forehand. He had the fastest forehand on tour last year in 2025.
“Again, we need some of these young guys to be healthy. It might be Musetti, who had some deep runs too.
“He’s another guy who is just beautiful to watch. On the clay, we could easily see him winning a couple of Roland Garros [titles]. He plays well on grass too.”
Fils is yet to defeat either Alcaraz or Sinner, holding an 0-5 head-to-head record against the pair.
Interestingly, neither former player mentioned Alexander Zverev, despite the German ending Alcaraz and Sinner’s streak of nine consecutive Grand Slam titles with his maiden French Open triumph earlier this year.
He also pushed Alcaraz to four sets in the Australian Open semi-finals before producing another high-quality display against Sinner in the Wimbledon final.
Despite being 29 years old – older than all of the players named by Courier and Edmund – Zverev may yet remain the biggest obstacle to Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominance over the next few seasons.
