As tennis’s “Big Three” slowly started to show their age, a couple of new stars took over the baton in the early 2020s. Widely considered the new “Big Two”, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have become the new faces to define the modern era of the sport. With 10 Grand Slam titles between them, the Spaniard and the Italian are the benchmarks their peers strive to attain. But “SinCaraz” is miles ahead of the pack!

Only yesterday, Sinner’s coach, Simone Vagnozzi, noted how he felt about the former and Carlos making it a habit to overcome every challenge thrown at them. “Let’s think about Jannik: now everyone makes his victories look normal…The boys are there, but then they have to take important steps to get to Jannik and Carlos,” Vagnozzi said, affirming the high status of the top two ATP stars. He’s not alone in his sentiments.

21-year-old American tennis star Alex Michelsen, fresh off his Laver Cup debut, recently sat down with the Nothing Major Show to talk about his experience of going against top-ranked players like Carlos Alcaraz. Michelsen crossed paths with the Spanish star at the Laver Cup in the men’s doubles, where the team of Casper Ruud and Alcaraz defeated the American duo of Alex and Reilly Opelka. In the YouTube upload from October 3, Michelsen confessed without deliberation how Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz make winning against them seem like a towering task.

During the conversation, one of the hosts candidly told Michelsen that the consensus among analysts has become that either Sinner or Alcaraz will win every major title they compete in. With that, they enquired of Michelsen about whether the players in the locker room feel the same, or if they actually believe they have a chance to win against the two best players in the world. Smiling, Michelsen said flatly, “When someone whenever says, ‘Oh yeah, I think I can win the US Open,’ everyone just bursts out laughing.”

“I mean, it’s it’s just like, there’s there’s nothing that us poor guys can do against those guys as of right now. I mean, it’s just, I don’t think anyone genuinely believes it anymore,” Michelsen went on about how the thought of winning a match against the likes of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz has become a rarity these days. However, he did note that the last representative of the Big Three is still the best bet to show his class and whip out a win, despite his own troubles.

“Except maybe except maybe Novak (Djokovic), but I mean he’s he’s not getting any younger,” Michelsen said. Well, he’s not wrong. Novak still holds the head-to-head advantage over Carlos Alcaraz: The 24x Grand Slam winner leads his younger colleague by 5-4. On the other hand, though, Sinner maintains a 6-4 lead over the Serbian. The Italian juggernaut has won all of the last five matches against the Djoker, while Carlos and Novak continue to play a to-and-fro game.

But while Michelsen holds both Sinner and Alcaraz in the highest reverence, Jannik has lost his throne as the world.No.1 after the US Open. At the Shanghai Masters, though, he can once again reclaim the spot.

Jannik Sinner could once again flex his muscles and affirm Michelsen’s thoughts

All four Grand Slams this year saw the final matches being played out between Sinner and Alcaraz. Both these stars won two major titles apiece in 2025, further underscoring how they are here to build a legacy through a rivalry that has the potential to mirror the on-court feud between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal or what Novak Djokovic and Rafa had during their heydays. However, after Sinner fell to Carlos in the year’s final Grand Slam competition in New York last month, the former’s ranking fell to #2.

Thankfully, Alcaraz has decided to skip the Shanghai Masters, and Sinner will have the chance to win yet another title and climb the rankings to get back to his old spot. Jannik comes into the ATP 1000 competition following his second straight title victory at the China Open, and fans would obviously believe that he is more than likely to retain the momentum.

And yet, health scares remain the biggest dark cloud hovering over the possibility of winning the Shanghai Masters for Jannik Sinner. Thankfully, Siner recently revealed that he’s overcome his sordid diarrhoea troubles and is in peak condition ahead of the tournament. So, do you think he can get back on his feet and make the most of Alcaraz’s absence in China, or will a young gun finally find a way to hold off Jannik despite the latter’s best efforts? Tell us in a comment!