Richard Krajicek is not ready to hand Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz a permanent lease on men's tennis. The 1996 Wimbledon champion told Tennis365 that Alexander Zverev, fresh off his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2026 French Open, could be about to go on a run reminiscent of Ivan Lendl after the Czech legend broke through for his first major.
The context here matters. After Novak Djokovic claimed his 24th Slam at the 2023 US Open, Sinner and Alcaraz proceeded to split the next nine majors entirely between themselves, each collecting five of the last eleven. But Zverev snapped that streak in Paris, and then pushed Sinner all the way to the final at Wimbledon on a surface that does not particularly suit his game. That resilience impressed Krajicek enormously.
"I remember when Lendl finally won his first Grand Slam, he started winning a lot," Krajicek noted, pointing out that Lendl went on to collect eight majors in total. He suggested a similar surge could be building for Zverev, adding that the German is playing with real confidence right now and winning the tight matches that matter most.
Krajicek's forecast for the next several years is a three-man race involving Sinner, Alcaraz, and Zverev competing at the top of the sport. Alcaraz missed both the French Open and Wimbledon this year with a right wrist injury, and Krajicek acknowledged that wrist and elbow problems are notoriously unpredictable in their timelines. He remains confident, however, that the Spaniard will return fully fit, calling his youth and recovery capacity genuine assets.
TennisDraw users tracking the evolving big-three dynamic will find plenty to debate when updating their bracket predictions for the hardcourt swing.
