The men’s tennis world finds itself at the edge of a generational shift. Shortly after the departure of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, it’s now all up to Novak Djokovic to keep the legacy of the ‘Big 3’ intact in the tennis world. At 38, he still continues to fight off the youthful energy of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Every time one thinks Novak Djokovic is done, he finds a way to prove everyone wrong. Slam after Slam, he’s shown why he is still the man to beat.

In 2025, the veteran master made it to the semis at each of the major tournaments. But his journey at the last three Grand Slam events came to an end at the hands of either Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner. Talking about these two, Alcaraz and Sinner became the first pair of men to win all four Grand Slams for two straight years since 2007.

This rivalry is only going to get better with time, but what about Novak? Well, he’s currently running against the time. All he now wants, perhaps, is to quickly grab his 25th Grand Slam title and look forward to a better ending to an already illustrious career. But how? While analyzing his straight-set loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the SF of the 2025 US Open, Novak Djokovic made a very interesting admission.

He said, “I lost three out of four Slams in semis against these guys, so they're just too good, playing on a really high level.” Djokovic feels this best-of-five format has made things even tougher for him at the Grand Slams. His last success at the majors came way back in 2023 at the US Open. Ever since then, it has been a sheer domination by ‘Sincaraz’! “It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the hurdle of Sinner, Alcaraz, in the best-of-five on the Grand Slams. I think I have a better chance best of three, but best of five, it's tough,” he said. But having said that, he also stated that he is not ready to give up on his Grand Slams yet. Amid all these, there is something to cheer for all the Novak Djokovic fans!

Is Novak Djokovic’s dominance under threat?

Jannik Sinner not only lost the US Open final against Carlos Alcaraz, but also his number one crown in the singles rankings. With his four-set triumph over the Italian, Alcaraz secured his sixth Grand Slam title and also returned to the top of the men’s rankings for the first time since September 2023. 

While sharing his thoughts about this incredible feat, Alcaraz said, “Since I got the chance to recover the #1, it was one of the first goals I had during the season. Trying to recover it as soon as possible or ending the year as #1. For me to achieve that once again, it’s a dream.” In 2022, Alcaraz defeated Casper Ruud in the US Open final to claim his first major title and also became the youngest number one in history at 19 years and four months. This lad is really special!

Where are they, currently placed in the singles Ranking, and what are their ranking points, though? Carlos Alcaraz currently sits at the top with 11,540 points, while Jannik Sinner is in second place with 10,780 points. With his long run at the US Open, even Novak Djokovic (4) has jumped three places to put himself inside the Top 5 with 4,830 points.

Carlos Alcaraz started his fifth spell at number one on Monday and took his overall tally for weeks spent at the top to 37, while Jannik Sinner dropped to world number 2 following 65 consecutive weeks as the world number one. Sinner’s 65-week spell places him in the 12th spot in the list of top 10 players with the most weeks as ATP number one, while Alcaraz is placed at the 17th place in that list. Guess who’s leading that list? Well, Novak Djokovic’s staggering 428 weeks as the world number one not only secures him the top spot, but in fact, it’s also an all-time record.

So, as things stand, Jannik Sinner would require nearly seven more years straight as number one (363 weeks = 7 years) to touch Novak Djokovic's record. It’s 7.5 years (391 weeks) for Carlos Alcaraz. These numbers tell why the Serb is still regarded as the G.O.A.T. in the tennis world. The closest player to him is currently Roger Federer (310 weeks), but the Swiss had already announced his retirement in September 2022. At the moment, this is one of those records that looks far away from Alcaraz and Sinner’s reach.

Other than this, if we take a look at the list of featuring the number one in the ATP Rankings, involving the most consecutive weeks, here Roger Federer leads the pack with 237 weeks beside his name, and Novak Djokovic is placed in the fourth spot with 122 weeks. In this list, Jannik Sinner is slightly closer to the Serb with 65 weeks, while Carlos Alcaraz is placed 17th in that list with 20 maximum consecutive weeks as world number one. The cat-and-mouse chase between Sinner and Alcaraz will continue, but do you think these two can ever reach the standards of the 24-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic?

Written by

Sayantan Roy

Edited by

Shrabana Sengupta