Roland-Garros 2024 signals the changing of the eras in men’s tennis
With a new men’s singles winner set be crowned in Paris for the first time since 2016, the latter stages of Roland-Garros 2024 are framed firmly on the future
Gepa / Panoramic
Carlos Alcaraz‘s approach to his quarter-final match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at this year’s Roland-Garros spoke volumes about the current pecking order of men’s tennis.
“I have the key against him,” and “I know tactically what I have to do in the match,” were how Alcaraz described his feelings towards the upcoming last-eight clash.
These were bullish statements, but not in the least designed to enflame or irritate. Instead, one has to say, they were refreshingly honest summations of exactly what Alcaraz’s mindset was heading into that match. He was confident, he understood what he had to do and how to do it.
In short, Alcaraz knew he was going to win.
Tsitsipas is one of the most gifted players of his generation. At 25 years old, he is just entering the peak of his career, and with two Grand Slam finals and eleven ATP titles under his belt, is now a seasoned and highly experienced competitor. A former world No 3, Tsitsipas has been a mainstay fixture in the top 10 since breaking into this elite group in February 2019.
But a man who has recently turned 21 years old was the overwhelming favourite against the Greek in last night’s quarter-final, and he delivered.
The match quickly became much less about whether Tsitsipas could mount a challenge to the young Spaniard, and entirely about when Alcaraz would confirm the match that everyone had been waiting for – a showdown with generational rival Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
Sinner had been officially confirmed to become the new ATP world No 1 just hours before Alcaraz’s comfortable victory over Tsitsipas.
As news of Novak Djokovic‘s unfortunate withdrawal from the tournament – due to a medial meniscus tear in the Serb’s right knee – trickled through to the Roland-Garros crowd, the hum of disappointment was unmistakeably mixed with the buzz of realisation that men’s tennis had a new leading man at its summit.
Sinner has been the player of the season by some distance. Other than a contentious loss to Tsitsipas in Monte-Carlo, during which an erroneous line call was critical in the Greek’s win, the young Italian has lost to only one other man – Alcaraz.
It was the Spaniard who halted Sinner’s seemingly irrepressible charge at the start of the year, ending the Italian’s 16-match winning streak in the semi-finals of Indian Wells.
The pair will meet again in the last four of Roland-Garros on Friday, with their early head-to-head poised perfectly at four wins apiece and 1-1 in Grand Slams.
rivalry between sinner and alcaraz electrifies, while long-time greats battle physical issues
Alcaraz and Sinner have, of course, been confidently navigating the upper echelons of men’s tennis for some time now. But it feels significant that the match-up of the tournament this year, the contest everyone most wanted to see, did not include any of the members of tennis’ ‘Big Three’.
Also of significance is that in the same tournament a 21-year-old rising star formally ascended to world No 1, tennis bade what could well be a final farewell to Rafael Nadal in the first round of a tournament he has as good as owned for the past two decades.
Then there’s Djokovic’s unfortunate exit. The Serb has had his fair share of battles with injury over the years – yet he usually comes out on top. Throughout both his 2021 and 2023 Australian Open title runs, he was playing with significant abdominal and thigh issues respectively, yet he shifted his tennis accordingly to get the job done.
Countless times the Serb has been taken to extended, epic five-setters and seemingly every time the 24-time Grand Slam champion not only comes through, but then miraculously recovers in time to win the next one.
This time round, however, the body finally buckled on him. At 37 years old, the physically bruising conditions of the Roland-Garros clay took their toll across two mammoth five-set matches. So much so, that injury ultimately forced the Serb out of the tournament even if neither Musetti nor Cerundolo could manage it.
roland-garros to crown champion outside of big three for second time since 2005
Roland-Garros 2024 is now guaranteed to see a new men’s singles winner crowned for the first time since 2016 and it will be just the second time since 2005, when an 18-year-old Nadal won his first of 14 titles, that a player other than one of the ‘Big Three’ will be champion in Paris.
This also means that, for the first time since 2003, we reach the halfway point of the year without any of Roger Federer, Nadal or Djokovic winning a Masters 1000 or Grand Slam title.
The leading candidates to land their first title in Paris are the two young men whose rivalry is lighting the tennis world ablaze. Sinner and Alcaraz are the highest seeds remaining, and the two most talented players left in the draw.
It would be remiss not to mention Alexander Zverev at this point, who has played superbly throughout this year’s tournament to position himself as a leading contender for the title. But the German’s long-term future is uncertain as unsavoury allegations of domestic abuse continue to hover over both his career and character.
Despite the fact that both Djokovic and Nadal remain on tour and feel competitive enough to keep playing, in Paris this year, through the dark skies and scheduling controversies, there is the undeniable sense of the shifting of the sands of time.
However the remaining stages of this year’s French Open play out, it marks the turning of yet another page in tennis history, as the chapter on the unprecedented era of the ‘Big Three’ continues to draw to its gradual close.
