The US Open is set to reach a thrilling crescendo this weekend, with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz stealing the headlines once again.
We have had upsets, thrilling comebacks and some magical stories over the course of the final Grand Slam of the year, but Sinner and Alcaraz have been the class of the field once again in the men’s draw after they contested the last two Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Swedish legend Wilander, who is a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion and a winner at the US Open in 1988, gave his views to All Court Tennis Club as he prepares to play a central role in Eurosport’s coverage of finals weekend at Flushing Meadows.
Who will end up winning more Grand Slams – Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner?
MW: The way I see it is I expect Carlos Alcaraz to win more Grand Slam titles than Jannik Sinner, but I expect Sinner to spend more weeks as world No 1. The reason I say this is that Alcaraz is such a complete player and he has so many options every time he plays a shot.
My other prediction is that Sinner will spend more time as world No 1 than Carlos. I say that because Carlos is a little more up and down and when he is at his best, he has proved he can beat Jannik and everyone else.
Will the Sinner and Alcaraz rivalry go down in history as the greatest of all time?
MW: I think it’s very hard to beat the rivalry of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. There was a great contrast of style with Roger and Rafa in the way that they play and then I think it was very easy to be drawn towards one or the other because of the way that they were on court.
You had one very, very quiet, very stoic, very sort of gentlemanly way of playing tennis in Roger Federer. Then you had the warrior in Rafael Nadal.
So the contrast of personality on the court and the contrast of technical styles is much greater than the contrast between Sinner and Alcaraz.
Where do you stand on the debate over whether Sinner and Alcaraz are playing at a higher level than Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic at their peak?
MW: Tennis has never been played at a higher level than the French Open final between Jannik and Carlos.
That match has put a lot of pressure and expectations on both Sinner and Alcaraz for them to be able to do that again and again because that’s what it’s going to take for them to become more important than Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
I think for the next few Grand Slams, we are going to be talking about Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but are they able to dominate the way they did at the French Open, at Wimbledon, and make it to the finals every time?
I believe we’re seeing two players that will fight for probably 15 Grand Slam finals before they’re done, at least. They’re that good. And at the moment, they’re that much better than everybody else.
Is there a danger that it will become boring if Sinner and Alcaraz are in all the big tennis finals?
MW: I don’t think so. In fact, when these two are in a final, I’m excited to see another amazing match, like the one we saw in Paris back in June. They have played so many great matches over the last few years that the excitement is always so high when they play against each other.
Do you think Novak Djokovic could challenge Sinner and Alcaraz to win what could be a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title?
MW: Looking at the last matches that he’s played against Sinner and Alcaraz, I think he may need some help to win that 25th Grand Slam.
I think we need something to happen to Jannik or Carlos, to at least one of them, because to beat Sinner and then to beat Alcaraz, that’s tough for any player, even if your name is Novak Djokovic. So I do think that he does need a little bit of help from the other guys.
In saying that, I would not count him out yet. I thought he had a chance to win another Grand Slam in 2025 and Wimbledon looked like his best chance. Can he beat Sinner on a hard court when he is looking like he might be one of the best hard court players of all-time? I don’t know, but you can never write off a great like Novak.
Watch the US Open on Eurosport and HBO Max