Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner have a better chance at getting up to Novak Djokovic's level than the Serb's previous threats, suggests tennis analyst

Tennis analyst Gill Gross believes Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have what it takes to challenge Novak Djokovic and close the gap, unlike players such as Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Aside from his arch nemeses Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic has faced a few strong rivals in the recent past. Despite the threats, however, the Serb has largely remained indomitable, rising back up after every fall.

Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas were among the players touted to take over the reins after they challenged Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open final and 2021 French Open final, respectively. The two, however, failed to replicate those performances in the seasons that followed.

Tennis analyst Gill Gross recently opined that history won’t repeat itself in this regard when it comes to the current batch of rising stars such as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Gross pointed out that the two promising players are still in their very early 20s, and are improving at a rapid rate.

“Here’s the difference. Dominic Thiem was 27-years-old in 2020. Tsitsipas, last year, was 24,” Gross said on his Monday Match Analysis podcast. “Right now, you have a 20-year-old who’s already won two Slams, in Alcaraz. And you have a 22-year-old [in Sinner].”

“Alcaraz and Sinner are a little bit different than a Thiem, who was 27, a Tsitsipas who was 23-24, and was not improving at the same rate as Alcaraz or Sinner. And neither of them had two Slams. It’s not apples to apples,” Gill Gross added.

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"The assumption is not that Novak Djokovic is gonna go down" - Gill Gross on the rise of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Novak Djokovic ended his 2023 season with a Davis Cup loss to Jannik Sinner

Despite the arrival of the new stars, Novak Djokovic produced one of the best seasons of his career in 2023. He won seven titles, including three Grand Slams (in Melbourne, Paris, and New York) and the year-end championships.

Gill Gross claimed that while Djokovic may not suffer a dip in form in the upcoming season, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz would likely raise their level to get on par with the World No. 1.

“The assumption is not that Djokovic is gonna go down, because there’s no evidence for that. The assumption is that Alcaraz and Sinner, unlike Tsitsipas, maybe unlike Thiem, have a better chance than any of those guys to actually get up to that Novak level of play and stay there,” he said.

Both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have now defeated Novak Djokovic at heavyweight events twice in their careers. Sinner took two scalps recently, in the 2023 ATP Finals group stage and the Davis Cup semi-finals.

The Spaniard, meanwhile, earned his first victory over the Serb in the semi-final of the 2022 Madrid Open. Alcaraz's second triumph over Djokovic, in the final of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, gave him his second Slam title.