Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner come as the dawn of a new era; an era that must take tennis in hand to ferry it from the 20 years of domination of the Big 3 (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer) to something new, for the ATP Tour.
However, in recent days, insiders and fans have been wondering if there will be tennis players who can insinuate themselves into the rivalry between the Spaniard and the Italian. The last week has seen the victory in ATP 500 tournaments of two youngsters like Jack Draper and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, tennis players on the launch pad: the first now number 15 ATP and increasingly growing and the other, revelation of this season, recently entered the Top 50 and winner in the Basel tournament in the final against Ben Shelton. They are the two of them, to which we must add Shelton himself and Holger Rune, a Danish talent in serious difficulty, in the last year.
Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton at the Paris Masters.
Two of the smiliest guys on tour. 😄😄
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 28, 2024
Looking at the Top 50 there are many Under 23s who can do quite well. And towards the end of the Top 50 keep an eye on Jakub Mensik and Juncheng Shang two Under 20s who have already achieved several sensational victories this year. Perhaps thinking precisely about the margins of growth, the two seem ready to make the big leap in quality, in 2025. Also thinking about those beyond the Top-50, keep an eye on the very young Brazilian Joao Fonseca, who so far has yet to explode but who seems to have a lot of margins and who some are already calling the young Sinner.
Locked in 🔒
This is a first main draw appearance in Paris for Juncheng Shang 💫🇨🇳#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/v9sv2VC3rH
— ROLEX PARIS MASTERS (@RolexPMasters) October 27, 2024
2024 was a year that saw the absolute domination of Carlitos and Jannik. The two divided the number of Slams equally, they won almost everything in this 2024 and left the crumbs to their opponents. The only big defeat was the one relating to the Paris Olympics, where Djokovic crowned the much-dreamed Career Golden Slam, beating Alcaraz in the final and winning that Olympic gold medal he had been chasing for years.
Quality from start to finish 👏
Jakub Mensik delivers a fabulous performance, ousting Popyrin 7-6 6-2 to claim his opening round victory in Vienna!#ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/9oeX4jOBne
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 21, 2024