Sinner, Alcaraz claim rare young sweep of Grand Slams in 2024
pFor years, tennis fans watched in awe as the lsquo;Big Threersquo;mdash; a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'Novak Djokovic/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview'Rafael Nadal/a, and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/amdash; ruled the sport with an iron grip. They dominated the majors, amassing 66 titles from 81 Grand Slam tournaments between Federerrsquo;s 2003 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a triumph to Djokovicrsquo;s latest victory at the 2023 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a./pp
The constant question looming over the sport has been when the reign of these titans would end. Has it arrived?/pp
The 20-time major champion Federer retired in 2022, the same season Nadal won his 14th a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a crown, his most recent Slam title. Though the 38-year-old Spaniard is still competing, he has been significantly hindered by injuries, having competed in just seven events mdash; including just one major mdash; this season./p[ATP APP]p
And then there is Djokovic, who won three of the four majors in 2023, claimed this yearrsquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/archive/paris/96/2024/results'Paris Olympics/a gold medal and is still in the Top 5 of the PIF ATP Rankings at age 37. But the 24-time major champion suffered a shocking third-round defeat to a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexei-popyrin/p09z/overview'Alexei Popyrin/a in New York, ensuring that the Serbian will end the season without a major trophy for the first time since 2017./pp
With 23-year-old a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a claiming his second Slam title at Flushing Meadows, this season marks only the third time mdash; and the first since 1993 mdash; that the four majors were won by players aged 23-and-under (Open Era)./pp
The Italian, who strengthened his claim as World No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings with the title, and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a have equally split the 2024 majors. Is this tug of war battle the next chapter in their thrilling Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry?/ppstrong1993: The last time the four majors were won by players 23-and-under/strong/ptable tbody tr tdstrongPlayer/strong/td tdstrongTournament/strong/td tdstrongAge/strong/td /tr tr tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jim-courier/c243/overview'Jim Courier/a/td tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a/td td22 years, five months/td /tr tr tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sergi-bruguera/b350/overview'Sergi Bruguera/a/td tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a/td td22 years, four months/td /tr tr tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/pete-sampras/s402/overview'Pete Sampras/a/td tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a/td td21 years, 10 month/td /tr tr tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/pete-sampras/s402/overview'Pete Sampras/a/td tda href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a/td td22 years, one month/td /tr /tbody/tableemspan style="font-size: 10px;"*1974 marked the first time the four majors were won by players 23-and-under/span/emp
En route to Sinnerrsquo;s maiden major title at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a, he shocked 10-time champion Djokovic in the semi-finals and then rallied from two-sets-to-love down in the title match against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a./pp
By winning the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a, Sinner is the first player since a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/guillermo-vilas/v028/overview'Guillermo Vilas/a in 1977 to add to his first major title with a second crown the same season. /pp
Alcaraz, 21, won the seasonrsquo;s other two majors, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a, becoming the youngest man to earn a major trophy on all three surfaces mdash; clay, hard and grass./pp
The World No. 3 successfully defended his a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a title by defeating seven-time champion Djokovic in the final for a second consecutive year, though this yearrsquo;s win was in straight sets compared to 2023rsquo;s dramatic five-setter./pp/pp
Alcaraz, a four-time major champion, became just the sixth man in the Open Era to win the Roland Garros-a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a double in the same year, joining a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rod-laver/l058/overview'Rod Laver/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/bjorn-borg/b058/overview'Bjorn Borg/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview'Rafael Nadal/a, Federer and Djokovic on that elite list./pp
This year could prove to be a seismic shift in the changing of the guard at the top of menrsquo;s tennis. Sinner and Alcaraz are two generational talents who have firmly planted themselves among the record books. /ppstrongDid You Know?br //strongSinner and Alcaraz are both former champions at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a, where they triumphed aged 18 (Sinner in 2019, Alcaraz in 2021). /pp[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p