AA Edit | For Alcaraz, Sky Is The Limit

Carlos Alcaraz did not just win the US Open for his sixth grand slam title. With his tactical brilliance, serving dominance and creativity in stroke-making, he has sent a message that the sky’s the limit for the 24-year-old champion who promises to take men’s tennis to heights not seen since the eclipse of the Big Three. If he sustains his form and fitness, maturity and performance levels, he could seriously threaten all records, including the 24 grand slams of Novak Djokovic and Margaret Court.

The Spanish star who has also gained all the art and graces of champions did not just take the world No. 1 ranking from his opponent, the metronomic Jannik Sinner. Save for dropping a set for the first time in his title triumph, Alcaraz played tennis that was close to perfection — forehand returns of deadly accuracy, consistent first serves, relentless baseline play mi-xed with that dulcet touch in slices and drop shots that had Sinner gasping.

Alcaraz was only one set shy of Neale Fraser’s spotless win at Flushing Meadows in 1960 when the Australian didn’t drop a set, but the Spaniard recovered quickly from the loss of balance in the second set to raise his game to a level that was simply brilliant, creative and too good even for a player of Sinner’s calibre who had beaten him to the Wimbledon title in an epic battle for the ages.

The improvement the Spaniard had shown since London was so phenomenal as to be graciously acknowledged by the Italian great. Tennis has been witnessing the transition from the era of the Big Three to a duopoly that has seen Alcaraz and Sinner win all eight slams between them in 2024 and 2025 while decisively ending the grand slam exploits of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. But now it appears a monopoly of grand slams may be possible. That is how good Alcaraz looked in his US Open victory.

The US Open 2025 saw several comeback stories of players avenging earlier defeats. Not the least of them was the victory of Aryna Sabalenka over Amanda Asinimova in the final who herself had redeemed her double bagel (6-0, 6-0) Wimbledon defeat at the hands of Iga Swiatek to win the semi-final and face Aryna. Unlike in the men’s game now dominated by Alcaraz and Sinner, four different players won the year’s grand slams pointing to a variety of talent at the top.