By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday May 21, 2025
Paris – Has the opportunity for a wide open scenario in men’s tennis, a window when many players will all battle for – and win – Grand Slam titles, already passed? With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner rising as the cream of the crop in the men’s game, four-time major champion Jim Courier believes that is the case, until further notice.
He’s even coined a phrase to describe the coming phenomenon.
“We came out of the error of the Big Three and the Big Four, and this is now for me the era of the “New Two,” Courier said in a conference call to promote TNT’s coverage of Roland-Garros.
Courier says that he has seen the two-headed monster that will enter next week’s main draw as the top two seeds separate themselves from the rest of the pack.
“That’s who these guys are, they’ve won the last five majors and they have clearly shown that there is separation there at the highest level,” the American said. “We were wondering. At the start of this clay-court season it certainly felt wide open because Sinner was still serving a suspension, Alcaraz had played at times brilliantly but also inconsistently this season.”
Courier is not wondering anymore, not after watching the two stars reach the final in Rome..
Madrid was wide open with neither of them there, and you had Casper come through and Jack Draper make the final, but in Rome they both show back up and it’s pretty clear that there is a big gap between them and the rest of the field, at least on clay – maybe on other surfaces that could tighten but I doubt it,” he said. “So, for me this is the “New Two,” we are in the early innings of it. If they are healthy, it looks like they are going to be dominant for a long time.”
