The new Messi and Ronaldo
“Real rivalry is not against another person but against oneself.”
Haruki Murakami
The kings are dead, long live the kings. Goodbye Djokovic-Federer-Nadal, hello Alcaraz-Sinner, a pair of athletes who are to tennis what Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are to soccer. An epic rivalry, except the gap between the two tennis players is closer.
Carlos Alcaraz is the most exciting player in history and, according to Novak Djokovic, the most complete. Jannik Sinner is right there. The two youngsters, aged 22 and 23, have taken tennis to an unprecedented level . No one has ever hit the ball with more speed or precision.
John McEnroe, a former champion who knows more about the sport than anyone, said what many thought before the final between the Spaniard and the Italian in Paris on Sunday: that at their peak, both Alcaraz and Sinner would defeat the best Nadal, "the king of clay," on clay.
Was Sunday's Roland Garros final, which Alcaraz won in five sets, the greatest in Grand Slam history? Many are already saying so. Until now, the consensus was that the 2008 Wimbledon final between Nadal and Roger Federer took the cake. I wrote almost an entire book about that battle, but, although I have an interest in keeping the legend alive, I share the opinion of another former champion, Sweden's Mats Wilander: in terms of quality and, most importantly in any sport, theater, the Paris final surpassed it .
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz hug at the end of Sunday's match in Paris.
Thibault Camus / Ap-LaPresse“Federer and Nadal played a couple of good finals,” said Wilander, now a television commentator, “but nothing comes close to this. I watched the match and thought, ‘This isn’t possible, they’re playing at a pace that’s not human.’”
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A cliché about Ronaldo and Messi comes to mind. That one has been the best player in the world and the other the best in the universe. With the perverse nuance that Alcaraz is more recognizably our own kind, less of a machine, more susceptible to the ups and downs that emotions bring.
Sinner, like Ronaldo, gives the impression of having been manufactured, like a Swiss watch; Alcaraz, of having been born with immense talent. This impression is misleading, as both have worked on the practice court and in the gym with equal intensity. And they share the same killer competitiveness. No one would dare say which of the two will have won more trophies by the end of their careers. And, as Alcaraz acknowledged after the match in Paris, there will be finals in which Sinner will beat him.
But Alcaraz has more magic, more joy, and more charm. If you look at Sinner and don't know what he's capable of, you might be mistaken for an average player. Alcaraz just has to step onto the field, without needing to hit a single blow, and his charisma is obvious to anyone . He exudes a superstar aura.
Another difference: Alcaraz is more elegant, much more so. He combines the fluidity of Federer with the ferocity of Nadal. His is an acrobatic ballet. Sinner's movements lack artistry, are almost clumsy, but are charged with lethal effectiveness. What they do have in common is something rarely seen in sports, and even less so in the political world. They are noble men. In both cases during Sunday's final, in points that could have been life or death, they corrected wrong decisions by the referees in favor of their opponent. Can you imagine something similar in a professional soccer match? "No, referee, no. It was a handball. It's a penalty." Inconceivable.
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The moment the five-hour, 29-minute match between Alcaraz and Sinner ended—five hours and 29 minutes of suffering on the couch—I changed the channel to watch the Nations League final between Spain and Portugal. I usually love watching Lamine and Pedri. But I couldn't last half an hour. It was like eating a plate of cold lentils after dinner at El Bulli. Besides, the Nations League? What's that? Only another recent FIFA invention, the Club World Cup, which starts (I think) on Saturday, surpasses it in artificiality.
I don't plan on watching a single match. Wimbledon, on the other hand, I'll watch the whole thing. All of Alcaraz's matches. And if he plays against Sinner, I'll take a couple of heart pills first . In terms of excitement and spectacle, sport—humanity's second most entertaining pastime—can't be beat.
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