Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are all set to take their storied rivalry to new heights when they clash in the men’s singles final of the US Open on Sunday.

Actually, so consistently good have been the two — world No. 1 Sinner and No. 2 Alcaraz — that they have wiped off the surprise element from men’s tennis. While it may suggest that the overall competition has lost a bit of its thrill, the two rivals have ensured that they inject high doses of enticing tennis with their top-class talents.

Sunday should be no different. The two will meet in a grand slam final for the third time in a row. The honours so far this year have been shared — the Italian won the Wimbledon title while Alcaraz stole the crown at Roland Garros after saving three championship points.

So what’s on the cards this time? Who’s the favourite? Not even the bravest gambler would dare to taken that.

Wins of contrast

In their respective semi-finals, the two progressed in contrasting styles. While Sinner battled past 25th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Alcaraz used his racquet like a magic wand as he dismantled 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Sinner misfired at times against a resilient Auger-Aliassime, but the former’s class was too hot to handle for the Canadian. The win made Sinner only the fourth man in the professional era — which began in 1968 — to reach all four grand slam finals in a single season, joining Djokovic, Rod Laver and Roger Federer.

Sinner had to take a medical timeout during the match as he felt twitching in his stomach. “After the treatment, was feeling much better... Nothing to worry about,” Sinner assured his fans.

Alcaraz had a much difficult task on hand. Though Djokovic is not the Djokovic of old, the Serb still packs quite a punch. In fact, Djokovic
had won their two most recent meetings.

But on Friday, the 38-year-old ran out of gas, showing signs of wear and tear.

Alcaraz said his scary dominance is the result of practice. “It’s something that I’m working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year in general. Just not having ups-and-downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match, I just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match,” the Spaniard said.

Fight to be best

Sinner and Alcaraz have become synonymous with grand slam finals. It’s the era of ‘Sincaraz’.

It’s the fifth consecutive final meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz in events in which they have both been in the draw. Alcaraz has won three of those finals — Rome, Roland Garros, Cincinnati (Sinner retired ill). Sinner triumphed in the Wimbledon final.

Alcaraz leads 9-5 in the overall head-to-head count and, more importantly, has won their past three meetings on hard courts.

Looking ahead to his fifth meeting of the year with Alcaraz, Sinner said: “I feel like our rivalry started here really, playing an amazing match. We are two different players now, different confidence, too.
So let’s see what’s coming. We’ve played quite a lot this year, so we know each other very well.”

Sinner was referring to his quarter-final duel with Alcaraz in New York three years ago, which the latter had won in five sets.

“It’s great for the sport having rivalries, having hopefully great matches in front of us. I’m someone who loves these challenges, and I love
to put myself in these positions and to see how it goes,” Sinner added.

The top spot in the rankings will be on the line, too. Should Alcaraz win the final and pad his current 1890-point lead in the ATP Live Race to Turin by a further 700 points, Sinner will face an uphill battle to finish back-to-back years at No. 1.

An epic awaits to be written in front of an Arthur Ashe Stadium audience that is expected to include US President Donald Trump. It’s a big day.

With inputs from Reuters