The incredible stat that already sets Alcaraz and Sinner apart from the Big Three (and other legends)
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have now met three times in a row in the final of a Grand Slam in the same season. As unbelievable as it may sound, this has never happened before (in this precise way).
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, Wimbledon 2025 | © PsNewz
Deflated at Wimbledon and outplayed in New York by Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alexander Zverev can look at the 2025 season differently. He is the only player to have reached a Grand Slam final outside of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
No matter that it came thanks to Novak Djokovic’s retirement. No matter if, once again, the occasion proved too big for him. Alcaraz and Sinner have pulled off something extraordinary: they have monopolized Grand Slam finals across three surfaces — clay (Roland-Garros), grass (Wimbledon) and hard courts (US Open).
Let’s get to the point: as incredible as it may seem after the Federer – Nadal – Djokovic era, with three players sharing so much of the stage, this had never happened. At least, within a single season.
Nadal – Djokovic across two seasons
The closest comparable case, which might make you think the Alcaraz-Sinner sequence is nothing new, is the run of finals between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in 2011 and 2012. That is precisely the point: Djokovic and Nadal did indeed play four consecutive Grand Slam finals, but it was split across two seasons — Wimbledon and the US Open in 2011, then the Australian Open and Roland-Garros in 2012.
That series ended as a “3-1 win” for Djokovic over Nadal, who would later recall at Roland-Garros how important it was for him to finally end that losing streak “at home,” on Parisian clay. The Federer – Murray Wimbledon final broke that run.
The record shows that, for instance, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer never faced each other in three consecutive Grand Slam finals. From 2006 to 2008, they contested back-to-back finals at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon. But they never once met at the US Open, not even in the main draw. And in the years they met in a Melbourne final — 2009 and 2017 — it never continued across other Slams. 2009 was the year of the Söderling earthquake at Roland-Garros for Nadal. In 2017, Federer skipped the Paris clay altogether.
Roland-Garros 2011 : the “pre-impeachment” by Roger
The most remarkable thing in the current series is that Djokovic is not responsible for it. Federer, on the other hand, by defeating the Serb in the 2011 Roland-Garros semifinals, arguably denied tennis a Djokovic – Nadal streak comparable to Alcaraz – Sinner’s. That semifinal, one of Federer’s greatest matches – especially on clay – carried unexpected consequences, even if no one can say for sure how a Djokovic – Nadal final in Paris would have lead to the same second half of the season in 2011.
And you won’t find anything similar in the other great rivalries of the Open Era. McEnroe’s level on clay and the diminished status of the Australian Open in the 1980s limited Borg – McEnroe to Wimbledon – US Open sequences (1980 and 1981).
Two other instances go back further: Jimmy Connors against Ken Rosewall in 1974, in a very different setting where the 22-year-old terror of the tour crushed 39-year-old Rosewall twice on the grass of the time. And then Connors vs Björn Borg at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1978. Other close case : Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg had a “two in a row” between the US Open 1991 and the Australian Open 1992.
By extension, that means rivalries like Connors – McEnroe, Becker – Edberg, Becker – Lendl, Sampras – Agassi and Agassi – Courier never produced even two consecutive finals.
Even before the Open Era, there were no recorded streaks of three consecutive men’s finals.
- René Lacoste vs Jean Borotra was the first back-to-back, at Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in 1925.
- Fred Perry vs Jack Crawford, across two seasons, from the US Open 1933 to the Australian Open 1933-34, was the second occurrence.
- Frank Parker vs Bill Talbert met in the US Nationals (the precursor to the US Open) in 1944 and 1945, a unique case since the American event was the only Slam held between 1941 and 1944 during World War II.
- The second Roland-Garros – Wimbledon double matched Jaroslav Drobny and Frank Sedgman in 1952.
- Finally, Lew Hoad vs Ken Rosewall spanned Wimbledon and the US Open in 1956, the last double before the Open Era.
It may be too soon to predict, but it’s hard to see a “Zverev” breaking through at the 2026 Australian Open.
