ATP Tour star claims there is a ‘big opening’ despite Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner dominance

Ewan West 12 Dec 2025 9:30 AM

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Frances Tiafoe

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner with Frances Tiafoe inset

Frances Tiafoe has argued the ATP Tour is “open” as he proclaimed that he “struggles to believe” that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are “unbeatable.”

Alcaraz and Sinner have established themselves as the top two players in the men’s game by a significant margin, having each won four of the last eight Grand Slams — including two each in 2025.

Sinner also won the ATP Finals and the Paris Masters this year, while Alcaraz secured three Masters 1000 titles.

The other five Masters tournaments in 2025, though, were won by five different players: Jack Draper (Indian Wells), Jakub Mensik (Miami), Casper Ruud (Madrid), Ben Shelton (Toronto) and Valentin Vacherot (Shanghai).

Tiafoe, who reached a career-high ranking of world No 10 in 2023, finished the 2025 campaign ranked 30th after compiling a 26-23 record. He ended his season after the Shanghai Masters after suffering a fifth consecutive defeat.

Speaking with Andy Roddick on the Served podcast, Tiafoe claimed there is a “big opening” at the top of the men’s game despite Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominance.

“The tour is kind of open,” said the 27-year-old American.

“It kind of feels to me like those years before [Roger] Federer and Rafa [Nadal] and those guys kind of happened.

“It really is open. From three to 100, with the guy (Valentin Vacherot) winning in Shanghai. It’s open.

“So, it’s exciting times in that sense, and when you think about it, at the end of a Slam, you have to beat two guys rather than three guys, and a lot of times the four guys in the semis were already a lock.

“I just think there is a big opening in tennis and that’s what I am really excited about.

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“I still don’t think these guys (Alcaraz and Sinner) are unbeatable. I struggle to believe that. I have to think that way.

“I played Carlos [Alcaraz] twice, he’s won two Slams [when] I lost to him in five [sets]. And I feel like I missed out on it. Last year at Wimbledon, I feel like I let one go.

“At the [US] Open, I was hanging for dear life. We were 3-3 in the fifth but I was hanging for dear life in the sets I won. But at Wimbledon, I really felt like I was up with a couple of 0-30s.

“Otherwise, then why am I playing? Now, are they very tough to beat? Absolutely.

“Hence why they are winning every tournament they mostly enter in but if you are telling me the whole tour, you have a shot, and then at the end of the week you gotta beat two guys, I’ll take that.”