What Sinner and Alcaraz can learn from sports' greatest rivalries

(Getty/Clive Brunskill)

Love it or hate it, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have become the present and future of men's tennis, as between them, they have won nine of the last 10 majors, including the last eight.

The last three majors of 2025, being the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, saw the pair face off in the finals, and now we're at the stage where, barring injury, it feels as if these two will be in every final for the next decade.

Some may find it boring, but in reality, this puts the pair in the position of becoming the next great athlete rivalry in not just tennis, but in all of sports.

Now teams frequently have rivalries, and while there are certainly athletes all over the world who can't stand each other, most times they don't reach anyone who doesn't support the sport.

So, this is a big moment for Alcaraz and Sinner, and as a watcher of many sports, I thought I'd use three examples of things from athlete rivalries of the past, which these two can learn from in order to become the greatest rivalry in all of sports.

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We don't have to venture too far for our first lesson, as it seems only right that a Sinner v Alcaraz duel could take a thing or two from the greatest ever tennis rivalry in Rafael Nadal v Roger Federer.

Now there is a lot to learn from this rivalry, from the sustained success, mutual respect and just all-around greatness, the Nadal vs Federer matchups always delivered; however, the one lesson that Sinner and Alcaraz can take from these two isn't any of these things.

The best thing that can be taken away is to have constant matchups.

Through their professional careers, Federer and Nadal played each other a total of 40 times, 14 of them coming during Grand Slams.

In a now-famous Vogue interview with Federer, he said the player he most dreads playing, and his favourite player to play against was Nadal, and with the number of times they faced off, it makes sense.

Overall, Nadal won the head-to-head 24-16 and 10-4 when they've met at a major.

In total, they faced off nine times in a major final, where Nadal yet again won out with a 6-3 record (four of them at Roland-Garros).

Some of the greatest tennis matches were played between these two, and although it wasn't a rarity for them to battle, every time they did, it was must-watch TV.

Sinner and Alcaraz have already started to follow suit as they have played each other 16 times since 2021, six of them being in Slams and three in major finals.

In the three major finals, two of them have only gone four sets, but their match at this year's French Open can already be put down as one of the greatest ever tennis showings ever, as Alcaraz mounted a massive comeback from three championship points down at 0-40 to win in five sets.

If things continue the way they are going, Alcaraz and Sinner will end up playing each other even more than Nadal and Federer did, which will help cement their legacy in tennis, but what are some other lessons they can learn from other sports?

For our next lesson, we go to football, and of course, when it comes to two individuals going head-to-head, the rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is unmatched.

What made this rivalry so special is that the world was quick to recognise that not only were we watching two all-time greats battle it out while both being in their primes, but they had already eclipsed all past players, and fans had unanimously agreed that we were watching the greatest and second-greatest ever players.

But one thing that people struggled to agree on was who was first and who was second.

School playgrounds were turned into Messi v Ronaldo debate rooms, water cooler chats turned into arguments, and social media was full of people posting endlessly about who their "GOAT" (Greatest of all time) was.

Yes, it caused a divide, but it also meant that nearly everyone in the world knew about these two.

For Sinner and Alcaraz, it may be hard to create this kind of chaos, as unlike with Messi and Ronaldo and the world of football, tennis already somewhat declared that the greatest ever player is one of Federer, Nadal or Novak Djokovic.

But at only 22 and 24 respectively, Alcaraz and Sinner still have plenty of time to lodge their case to become the tennis GOAT. It will take a lot, but it's not impossible to see one of, or maybe both of these two, rising above the big three.

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But if in eight to 10 years these two can firmly be in the GOAT conversation, then just like Messi and Ronaldo, they could become the world's biggest debate topic and transcend tennis.

It may be rich to say that from the Messi v Ronaldo debate, they can learn to become two of the greatest ever players, but to learn from the best, you have to be the best.

But as this may be an unrealistic lesson, to lower the standards a little, instead of the lesson being about becoming the best and second-best players to ever play the game, it can be changed to just dominating all of men's tennis for the next decade.

In football, the best player each year is awarded the Ballon d'Or, and as such, it is viewed as the most prestigious individual achievement in the game.

So, it should come as no surprise that between 2008-2023, Messi and Ronaldo combined to win the award 13 out of a possible 15 times and for 10 straight years, one of the two won it, while the other one was most often runner-up.

In tennis, the equivalent should be having the No.1 ranking and also winning the most majors in the calendar year.

For Sinner and Alcaraz to match Messi and Ronaldo's dominance, they'd need to win at least two majors every year, and both of them hold either the first or second ranking.

It seems like a challenge, but considering they have both been doing that for the last two years, it feels like it can continue for another 8+ years.

Now, for the last lesson, I am taking you to basketball and what is considered the greatest ever athlete rivalry in all of sports, and this is between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

In the 70s, instead of the giant today that is the NBA, the league was struggling and interest in professional basketball was at an all-time low.

However, word had quickly spread about two kids who were in college and were supposedly going to save the NBA.

Even as kids in college, neither could stand the idea that someone thought the other one was better than them, and so it was very fitting when the pair would face off against each other in the 1979 College Championship.

Magic would get the first win on the board as he took down Bird, and the following year, they'd both be heading to the NBA.

Bird had already been drafted the year before to the Boston Celtics, so of course it was only right that the Celtics' biggest rival in the LA Lakers would get the first pick of the draft and take Magic.

While Magic would win a championship in his first year, Bird won Rookie of the Year.

In Boston, Bird was enraged that Magic now had the college championship over him, while Magic was just as peeved that Bird had taken Rookie of the Year.

The pair would then trade blows as they faced off in the finals in 1984 and 1985, with Boston winning the first matchup and LA winning the second.

Throughout the 80s, after their games, they'd each check the stat lines the next day to make sure they had played a better game than the other.

Bird would show up to practice at 6am every day to put up 500 free throws, purely because in his head, he believed Magic would be shooting 400 free throws across the country, and of course, Magic Johnson was doing the exact same thing.

These two respected but also servilely hated each other in every facet of the game, and as such, they were always trying to one-up the other.

Really, the main lesson that Sinner and Alcaraz can take from these two is to always strive to be better than the other one.

They can respect each other, and when all is said and done, they can sit down and reminisce about just how amazing their battles were, but in the present, I want them to detest each other.

If Alcaraz wins a major, I want Sinner to be fired up and ready to work even harder to win the next one.

If Sinner gets another win over Alcaraz, they can shake hands and be respectful, but I want the Spaniard to be extra heated, not just because he lost, but because he lost to Sinner.

As long as it remains respectful, for these two to be up there with Bird and Magic, they need to almost hate losing to one another more than they like beating the other one.

I know in 2025, rivalries like this are rare, as players are now friends with each other and sometimes even train together, but you can't deny that a bit of fire here would take this rivalry to the next level.

Two of the best players, both at a similar age and having not even really entered their 'prime', this rivalry is here to stay for at least the next decade, and regardless if these two takeaway any of these lessons from these great athlete rivalries, we are in a special time in men's tennis, and I for one can only sit back with excitement for what's to come.

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