Carlos Alcaraz has ignited men’s tennis – but now it faces a major problem

After Carlos Alcaraz ended the Big Four’s 20-year chokehold on Wimbledon, he insisted he did not do this for the new generation, only for himself.

That is perhaps the most apt reaction he could have given as, on the current evidence, none of his contemporaries will be able to challenge him the way Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray did each other. This will not be the era of another Big Three or Four, it’s the Big One.

“Don’t belong to an era, start your own,” so went Nike’s new advert for their latest tennis star Alcaraz, released on Sunday night. His extraordinary Wimbledon triumph confirmed that the Alcaraz era is upon us, and is likely to be one defined by his singular brilliance rather than the rivalries we are used to at the top end of men’s tennis.

Djokovic is not done yet. His two grand slam titles to start the year made that clear. When asked whether he hoped his and Alcaraz’s sensational five-set battle would be the start of a rivalry, he laughed at the prospect and said, “I hope so!”

Such is Djokovic’s supreme physical form, we rarely find ourselves mentioning his age in the way we do about retired Federer, injured Nadal and metal hip-wielding Murray. The Serbian is 16 years older than the new Wimbledon champion though, and it’s acceptable to wonder if he has only got two or three years left in him at this level.

It is difficult to predict whether this painful loss to “the most complete” player he has ever faced will spur Djokovic on or accelerate his route to retirement. Regardless, he cannot last forever, and Alcaraz is the only man on tour currently who is worthy of being named in the same breath as the greats.

“Today, truly at the end of the match I had the feeling that I’m ready for these situations, to play epic matches with big legends and in big scenarios,” Alcaraz told Spanish reporters on Sunday. “I know I feel that for me.”

The same cannot be said of those around him.

Ahead of the tournament, Wimbledon organisers had tried to manufacture the emergence of a new rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz, in an illustration that went viral for all the wrong reasons. Sinner, who is 18 months older than Alcaraz, had shared one of last year’s most dramatic battles with the Spaniard at the US Open and there is every possibility they will play epic matches again. But Sinner’s comparably meek performance against Djokovic at the semi-final stage offered a stark contrast to Alcaraz’s vigour and mentality when facing up to an all-time great. The Italian is not ready, and may never catch up with Alcaraz.

Then there was the way Alcaraz dismantled Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final, which verged on embarrassing. Medvedev, 27, is only the second men’s player born in the 1990s to win a major title, the hordes of other hopefuls all swept aside by the previous golden generation. He is also the man who ended Djokovic’s last hope of a rare calendar slam in New York in 2021, and last year became the first world No 1 outside of the Big Four in 18 years. But he scuppered a two-set lead against Rafael Nadal at the 2022 Australian Open final and has arguably not been the same player at the majors ever since. With the emergence of 2000s kid Alcaraz, one wonders whether Medvedev’s time to shine has already passed him by.

Casper Ruud is another serial finalist, who has made three of the last six at grand slams. But he won just one set in those three attempts, against Alcaraz in the Spaniard’s maiden title-run in the US last year. Here at Wimbledon, 24-year-old Ruud seemed barely upset about his second round exit, shrugging that grass is just not his thing. It suggests he does not have an ounce of the competitive drive that Alcaraz is so clearly fuelled by, let alone the complete game.

Then there is Denmark’s Holger Rune, perhaps the player experts pit as the closest to Alcaraz’s talent. The pair grew up on the junior circuit together as they were born just a week apart. Rune has shirked at the idea that world No 1 Alcaraz is already head and shoulders above him and has the unabashed confidence and flair to attract fans to the sport. But Alcaraz destroyed him in straight sets in the quarter-finals last week, and looked years ahead of him in terms of physical and mental development. He may want to compete, but he is not equipped to do that fully yet either.

Alcaraz stands alone in this group of 20-somethings. During his Champions’ Dinner speech late on Sunday, he said he was looking forward to flying back to his hometown in Murcia “to feel like a normal boy again”. With an entire sport now resting in the palm of his hand, that is just not possible anymore.