Tennis amidst changing of guard
Based on the reactions on social media, it seems everyone in the world of tennis was riveted by Novak Djokovic’s victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the Cincinnati Masters, the last tournament for both ahead of the US Open.
It was a titanic, 3½-hour-plus showdown between the two titans of the men’s game at the moment — the third time they’ve played each other in Djokovic’s past three events, each on a different surface — and set the stage for what will be an expected meeting to determine the champion at Flushing Meadows, where play begins Monday and finishes on Sept. 10.
Last weekend’s hard-court contest at Cincinnati, where Djokovic, who is 36, saved a championship point in the second set and Alcaraz, who is 20, saved four in the third before succumbing 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4), also served to symbolize the state of change the sport currently finds itself in, a year removed from Serena Williams’s farewell match in New York and Roger Federer’s retirement announcement soon thereafter.
Alcaraz is The Next Big Thing, the winner of the 2022 US Open who grabbed his second Grand Slam title last month at Wimbledon by beating — yes, that’s right — Djokovic. And Djokovic, the owner of 23 major trophies, is the only member of The Big Three competing nowadays, what with Federer (who has 20) done and Rafael Nadal (22) out since January with a hip problem but eyeing a return for one last hurrah in 2024.
“For so many years, the game has been dominated by legends of the sport, but Father Time is undefeated. Everyone has to kind of go on to their next stage and they have to put the rackets down. We’re seeing that unfortunately with Serena, with Roger, with Rafa. There is going to be a bit of a transition period,” said Chris Eubanks, a 27-year-old from Atlanta who reached the Wimbledon men’s quarterfinals. “It leaves a lot of parity and it leaves a lot of opportunities for other players in the men’s and women’s games to kind of make a name for themselves.”
No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, who is 22, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 25, and No. 4 Elena Rybakina, 24, appear poised to stay near the top of the women’s game — Swiatek already has won four Slam titles, including the 2022 US Open; the others have one apiece — and No. 6 Coco Gauff, just 19, might be ready to etch her name on one of the four most prestigious trophies in tennis.
“Tennis is evolving and constantly changing, and there is always room for new players, new champions. I think it’s great and it’s difficult for me to say that there will be a group of young players that will compete like Novak, Roger and Rafa did, or that there will be a female player better than Serena,” Swiatek told the AP. “It’s [hypothetical], so I would say I’m just excited about the future and being a part of it.”
No one definitive heir to Williams or the top male players has been established, but one thing is clear.
“There is a shift,” said France’s Caroline Garcia, who reached the semifinals in New York a year ago. “There are young players coming, like Alcaraz and Iga.”
Frances Tiafoe, the 25-year-old American who reached the US Open semifinals in 2022 and recently made his Top 10 debut in the ATP rankings, put it this way: “Game is in a little different place. A little different dynamic. I’m happy to be in this era, for sure.”