From Sinner-Alcaraz to Sabalenka-Swiatek: In the rivalry of things
Tennis thrives on rivalries, with Sinner and Alcaraz reigniting excitement in men's tennis, while Sabalenka and Swiatek may spark a women's rivalry in 2026.
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New Delhi: To elevate the players and the sport, tennis needs rivalries. But finding a rivalry isn’t easy because in essence you need to discover players who, despite winning and losing, will keep growing together and that can, at times, seem like defying the laws of probability.
But when it does come together, few things are as special. Fans pick a side, they have something to root for… they have a stake in what they are watching unfold on the court. It makes things personal and ensures you aren’t just doom scrolling through the match. Rather, you are intently watching for signs, doing a deep dive into strategy and sometimes even employing superstition to do the job for your favourite.
In men’s tennis, it wasn’t so far back that fans were doing that. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic gave tennis a tribal feel for roughly two decades and most didn’t quite think that the void of their rivalry will be filled quite as quickly as it has been.
{{/usCountry}}In men’s tennis, it wasn’t so far back that fans were doing that. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic gave tennis a tribal feel for roughly two decades and most didn’t quite think that the void of their rivalry will be filled quite as quickly as it has been.
{{/usCountry}}In Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, men’s tennis has two players who are getting better every year and learning from each other. They already seem to be playing at a level higher than everyone else on the tour and if 2025 was any indication, beginning with the Australian Open, we are all set for a scorching 2026.
{{/usCountry}}In Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, men’s tennis has two players who are getting better every year and learning from each other. They already seem to be playing at a level higher than everyone else on the tour and if 2025 was any indication, beginning with the Australian Open, we are all set for a scorching 2026.
{{/usCountry}}In 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner met six times (all finals), with Alcaraz winning four matches and Sinner two. Between them, they also won all the Grand Slams in the year with Sinner accounting for the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while Alcaraz won the French Open and the US Open. If either was playing in a tournament, the chances of them being the last men standing was very high.
{{/usCountry}}In 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner met six times (all finals), with Alcaraz winning four matches and Sinner two. Between them, they also won all the Grand Slams in the year with Sinner accounting for the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while Alcaraz won the French Open and the US Open. If either was playing in a tournament, the chances of them being the last men standing was very high.
{{/usCountry}}It’s got people excited again. Even Roger Federer.
“The rivalry with Alcaraz and Sinner is a great one,” said Federer on Thursday. “They play incredible tennis. I think that French Open final was unreal. I think the game, not that it needed it, but it was great that we had it.”
Federer added: “Then they backed it up by playing against each other in all those other finals. Everybody is trying to keep up and they’re trying to pull away. What we’ve seen in terms of their progression in the last years, it’s been wonderful... I practised with those guys a little bit. They’re incredible ball strikers. There’s obviously more to come.”
But while men’s tennis has already got started on something, women’s tennis feels like it is on the cusp of something. Aryna Sabalenka remains the player to beat on the WTA Tour, despite finishing 2025 with just one Grand Slam title to her name. But with Iga Swiatek starting to find her rhythm again, the WTA tour might find something, a rivalry, that it hasn’t had for a long time.
The last few years in women’s tennis has seemed a bit like the Wild, Wild West. Anyone and everyone has a chance of winning, not just matches but tournaments too.
Sabalenka bucked the trend by showing the consistency to reach at least the semi-final of every Grand Slam. Swiatek wasn’t far behind either — winning Wimbledon, reaching the semis of the Australian and French Open while going down in the quarterfinals at the US.
The difference between them and Sinner-Alacaraz is that they haven’t always made it to the summit clash. In fact, they faced off just once in 2025 (in the French Open semi-final).
If all goes to plan, Sabalenka and Swiatek could meet in the Australian Open final, but that, according to seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander, could depend more on Swiatek than on Sabalenka.
Speaking of Swiatek, he told TNT Sports: “Well, the issue to me is that she needs matches. She’s very similar to Rafael Nadal in that situation where she needs matches. And when you come from the end of the season, the year before, and you have two months when you don’t play any matches, pretty much, it’s going to affect some people.
“I think that Iga Swiatek, when she’s confident, she’s an absolute animal. She’s unbelievably good. She believes in herself. But I do think that she’s a very sensitive human being when it comes to confidence. When she doesn’t have the confidence, her tennis is not as good because I think she needs confidence to believe that she’s a great player.
“I think that if you compare it to Sabalenka, she knows that she’s a great player, and you cannot take that away from her, whether she wins matches or loses matches.”
Watching a great player dominate can be fun but honestly, nothing beats the joy of watching them having to dig deep and come up with answers where there were only questions before. That is what the rivalry is doing for Sinner and Alcaraz, and hopefully, in 2026, that is what it will do for Sabalenka and Swiatek too.
