Legend's unthinkable claim as 'big three' era vanishes

Tennis legend Mats Wilander says when Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz play at their best, they are better than the "Big Three" of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

The third-ranked Alcaraz won seven straight points in the decisive tiebreaker to beat top-ranked Sinner 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3) at the China Open, and has now won all three of his meetings with Sinner this year, having also come out on top in semi-finals at Indian Wells and Roland Garros.

The victory for the Spaniard also ended Sinner's winning streak at 15 matches and denied the Italian three straight titles after winning at Cincinnati and the US Open.

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Sinner and Alcaraz have accounted for all four grand slam titles this year between them — evenly split at two each: Sinner won the Australian Open and the US Open while Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon.

"They are following in the footsteps of the 'Big Three' in terms of level," Wilander told EuroSport.

"I hope Roger, Novak, and Rafa are not listening, but in terms of level, when Sinner and Alcaraz are at their best, there is no way anyone has ever played better tennis.

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"Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner put on such a great, entertaining show. To me, it's up there with the absolute best sporting events ever.

"It keeps happening every single time they play. They come up with suspense, they come up with entertainment."

Alcaraz improved to 6-4 in his career against Sinner after their 10th meeting in what has become tennis' top rivalry following the 60 matches between Nadal and Djokovic.

Speaking during his post-match press conference in China, Alcaraz expanded on his bubbling rivalry with the Italian, telling reporters the two "aren't close friends."

"We have a really good relationship off the court as well," Alcaraz said.

"I think we both respect each other a lot, as a player, as a person, but once we are on tour travelling, during tournaments when we are on site, we are with our team on our own, so we don't speak too much.

"When we can, we talk a little bit besides tennis, about life a little bit, but not too much. We have a good relationship, but we are not close friends, but I think the respect that we have put us in a position that we have a really good relationship.

"When Jannik and I face each other, playing against each other, I think it's a really good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies.

"I think for the people who don't watch tennis, probably thanks to these kind of matches, [they] start to watch tennis or even practice it. I think it is pretty good."https://www.instagram.com/p/DAp8Z3-OuH8/?utm_source=ig_embed&

Alcaraz might say the pair aren't "close" but they seem to be close enough to catch a private flight together.

Both players and their teams boarded the same private plane from Beijing to Shanghai, to prepare for the Masters 1000 event.

"It's a weird thing, but I think tennis is different than other sports because of it," Alcaraz said of their shared commute.

"We are fighting against each other, three-hour match, really close, he could win, in the end I got the win, and then two hours later, we are in the same plane, having some laughs, making jokes, talking about life, and we're acting like nothing happened before."

- with AP