Why Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner’s dominance may be ‘very good’ for the chasing pack
Two-time Olympic champion Nicolas Massu has hailed the “extraordinary” duo of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — and has urged their rivals to take motivation from their dominance.
World No 1 Alcaraz and world No 2 Sinner are comfortably clear towards the top of the men’s game, and have dominated on the ATP Tour in recent years.
The pair have won the last nine Grand Slam men’s singles titles between them, with the duo winning two Grand Slam titles each in 2024 and 2025, before Alcaraz’s victory at the Australian Open this season.
World No 3 and tennis icon Novak Djokovic is undoubtedly still the biggest threat to the duo outside of each other, with all eyes on when a new rival or rivals will emerge for the Spaniard and the Italian.
The likes of Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik, Learner Tien, Jack Draper, Holger Rune, and Arthur Fils are among those often named as future rivals for Alcaraz and Sinner, though all of those have struggled with either consistency and/or injuries during stages of their respective careers.
However, former world No 9 Massu has now urged the ATP Tour chasing pack not to be threatened by Alcaraz and Sinner’s dominance.
Speaking to Marca, the Athens 2004 singles and doubles gold medallist urged players to use Alcaraz and Sinner’s success as fuel and motivation for themselves.
He said (translated from Spanish): “Their [Alcaraz and Sinner] results are magnificent, extraordinary, and what they have in common is their youth.
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“You watch them play, and they play incredibly fast; they have so much talent. Each has their own style and personality. Their presence is very good for tennis and for those coming up behind them.
“It happened to me in my career because I looked at the players who were achieving results and wanted to compete with them and beat them, and that makes you improve.
“You push yourself much harder because the motivation is so high. Carlos and Jannik are winning almost every tournament, and that should motivate the players behind them to want to face them and, why not, win a match against the very best.
“If they keep this up, they’ll be among the greatest in the history of tennis because they’re still young.”
Alcaraz and Sinner were most recently in action at the Qatar Open in Doha, where the Spaniard lifted the title to maintain his unbeaten start to 2026.
Sinner was beaten in the last eight by rising star Mensik, though he is still comfortably the world No 2 in the ATP Rankings, and will now be eyeing up a strong campaign across the ‘Sunshine Double.’
The opening Masters 1000 event of 2026 will begin in Indian Wells next Wednesday, with both the Spaniard and the Italian likely to be the leading contenders for the title.
Alcaraz beat Sinner in the semi-final of the event in 2023 and 2024, and went on to triumph on both occasions.
Action in Indian Wells will then be followed by the Miami Open, with Alcaraz triumphing in at the tournament in 2022 and Sinner triumphing in 2024.
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