Medvedev on the Sinner/Alcaraz 'Big 2' Era: ‘Never underestimate a third guy’

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Medvedev on the Sinner/Alcaraz 'Big 2' Era: ‘Never underestimate a third guy’

29-year-old exclusively discusses shifting landscape with ATPTour.com

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour Daniil Medvedev is one of three players to earn wins against both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at major tournaments. By ATP Staff

There was a time not so long ago when Daniil Medvedev emerged as the potential flag bearer of a new generation.

After being suffocated early in his career by the late stages of the 'Big Three' era, he was the man who halted Novak Djokovic's bid for a historic calendar-year Grand Slam in the 2021 US Open final. Six months later he became the first player since 2004 other than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray (added as a member of the 'Big Four') to rise to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

But it didn’t take long for the Big Three era to give way to the duopoly of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who have combined to win the past seven majors. Now 29, and knowing that he can't wait them out, Medvedev has vowed to do all he can to avoid another near shutout of Grand Slam titles in coming seasons.

“Jannik and Carlos are playing amazing, they are the top two at the moment and they are playing better than everyone else, but never underestimate a third guy who is going to come and challenge them,” Medvedev told ATPTour.com.

“There is a lot of talk about this: ‘How is it possible that no one is close to them?’ Carlos, when he was 17, came on Tour and everyone was like ‘How can he hit so strong? I can practise 10 hours a day and not hit that strong.’ So, when he has the days that he can’t miss — and he has them a lot — there is not any chance for us. It’s the same for Jannik, he’s a really strong player.”

It’s a typically sharp and measured assessment from one of the game’s most thoughtful tacticians. Medvedev has always been a student of the sport, forced to adapt and analyse to achieve success in arguably the toughest era of men's tennis. Now, while Sinner and Alcaraz have taken centre stage, Medvedev knows how quickly the landscape can change.

“I remember Roger and Rafa: When Rafa was 20, 21, he had already won two or three Roland Garros titles,” recalled Medvedev. “They were talking about this time when he won Wimbledon for the first time, and it was his first Grand Slam outside of Roland Garros.

“Then at this point, when everyone thought they were going to share all the Grand Slams, there was this one Serbian guy who came a little bit later and won more than them.”

In the six Grand Slam finals (1-5) that Medvedev has contested, he has faced Djokovic three times, Nadal twice, and most recently Sinner at last year’s Australian Open. Despite that, he is one of just three players to have earned Lexus ATP Head2Head wins against both Sinner and Alcaraz in major tournaments.

Daniil Medvedev beats Jannik Sinner in five sets at Wimbledon in 2024. Photo: Getty Images.

Still, 2025 has been far from smooth. A two-time major finalist in the past two years, Medvedev has failed to make it past the second round at any Slam this year, falling early in Melbourne, Paris and London.

“It’s funny because many people ask me about Jannik and Carlos, but at the moment this year, I haven’t played them in the Slams, I’ve played much worse,” said Medvedev. “That’s a bit of a ‘good’ problem for me, because I want to be there where they are, in the fourth round or quarters. I actually don’t think it will be tough for me, because it was already tough. I managed to do it once against Novak."

Medvedev understands that, stylistically, the challenge posed by this new wave is unique. While his counterpunching, flat-ball style can neutralise pace and frustrate aggressors, Sinner and Alcaraz bring a different level of athleticism and raw firepower that can often blow through defenses — his included. Yet he knows their invincibility isn’t absolute.

“They are strong players, but at the same time, they both can lose sometimes,” he says. “For example, Jannik lost against Sascha [Bublik] in Halle and Sascha won the tournament. Carlos lost against Botic [Van de Zandschulp] just less than a year ago… Every time when you are on the court with them, you need to try to win.”

Alexander Bublik defeats Daniil Medvedev for the 2025 Halle title. Photo: Thomas F. Starke/Getty Images.

This year, however, Medvedev has struggled to reach those matchups often enough. After a string of inconsistent results, the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion has slipped to 19th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, aiming to qualify for a seventh consecutive year.

Heading into the Cincinnati Open with a modest 26-16 season record according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, Medvedev admits the reasons behind his struggles aren’t easy to isolate, but sees ‘opportunity’ ahead on hard courts, his favoured surface.

“It’s very tough in tennis, because I could find 10 reasons and I would not know which one is the main reason,” said Medvedev. “Whatever we do, we just try to improve. So we sat down with the team: Where can we do things better? What can we change? We discussed some things and I’m going to try and implement it.

“This is the most exciting part of the season, there is hard courts until Miami next year. So I will try to give my best and enjoy it. It’s an opportunity, I want to take it as a challenge of trying to raise my level in the big occasions, trying to go step by step.”

Though he currently sits 11 spots off the cut for Turin at 19th in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, Medvedev isn’t panicking.

“At this part of the season, Turin is a long way to go for everyone except for Carlos and Jannik, who are sure to be there, and maybe Sascha [Zverev] who will have a lot of points to be close to being a little bit calm,” explained Medvedev. “For all the other guys, some tournaments you play good and the other guy plays good, it’s game on or game over.

“I usually was in a better position at this time of the year, but I’m very close… You just need to make a quarter-final of a Masters 1000 and you are almost there already, so I just need to play well.”

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