Will Wimbledon spawn a rivalry for the ages between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner?

In 1996, the late author David Foster Wallace—once an aspiring tennis pro, later a literary giant—wrote a piece for Tennis magazine about the previous year’s US Open final between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. In it, he compared the rivals to the legendary Greek cities of Athens and Sparta. It was one of Wallace’s finest visits back to his old sporting neighborhood.

For Wallace, Sampras, with his no-nonsense focus on discipline, clarity, power and physicality (athleticism) represented Spartan virtues. Agassi, colorful, philosophical, impulsive and iconoclastic, stood for that cultural mecca, Athens. At the time, Sampras led the rivalry by a whisker 9-8: 3-2 at Slams, 3-1 in major finals.

If you saw the recent French Open final (and who didn’t?), you can see how something very similar may be in the offing between today’s emerging superstars, the 23-year old Italian Jannik Sinner and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who is 22. The potential of the rivalry didn’t come into high focus until this last, epic battle—mostly because, while one or the other has claimed the last six major singles titles (and eight of the last 10), this was their first clash in a major final.

“Well, I'm not gonna put myself or the great rivalry that I have with Jannik at the same level [as] those legends,” Alcaraz said before the start at Roland Garros, referring to previous, iconic match-ups. “But I think for the people, for the tennis fans, I think it's great to have a matchup from some players that [they] are excited to watch.”

By the end of the tournament, multitudes stood ready to dispute Alcaraz’s assessment. Fans worldwide are hoping for a grass-court reprisal at Wimbledon. Should that come to pass as forecast (Sinner and Alcaraz are seeded Nos. 1 and 2 respectively), and especially if Sinner wins—preferably in a barnburner—the young stars will find themselves vaulted into Federer-Nadal, Borg-McEnroe, Sampras-Agassi territory.

Great rivalries are driven by highly competitive matches between players with contrasting styles and personalities. This one measures up. Like Sampras, Sinner goes full frontal at opponents with an extremely clean game and overpowering strokes. Alcaraz, like classic Agassi, is mercurial and deft, a table-turning trickster and master of the counter-attack. Agassi’s former coach Brad Gilbert summed it up nicely in a conversation a few weeks ago:

“Sinner is more consistent than Alcaraz, but Alcaraz’s highs are higher, his lows lower," he said. "Alcaraz's high note is phenomenal, right? His low is much lower than Sinner’s. But man, when he hits his high note, he goes all Ella Fitzgerald. He breaks the glass.”

Alcaraz demonstrated that ability to elevate his game when he overcame a slow start in the French Open final to gradually find his A-game. Inspired by the crowd in a way Agassi himself would recognize, he dug himself out of a deep hole with spectacular shotmaking. Although Sinner never took his foot off the gas or appeared tentative, Alcaraz fought off three championship points late in the fourth set. The winners continued to pour off Alcaraz’s racquet until the very end.

“Well, I just always repeat myself that in specific moments I had to go for it no matter what, no matter if I was down, no matter if it was the super-tiebreak of the fifth,” Alcaraz said afterward. “I just thought that it was time to go for it, not be afraid of the mistakes. I never doubted myself today. That's why I saw my best tennis in those difficult situations.”

What can anyone, including Sinner, bring to bear against that degree of self-confidence and appetite for risk?

Poise and consistency are but two things, and Sinner has those in spades. But teetering one swing of the racquet from elimination, as Alcaraz did multiple times at Roland Garros, is no way to live. It’s easy to overlook that in addition to anything else, Alcaraz was just plain lucky.

It’s going to be interesting to see how getting burned in this match will impact Sinner. But if his return from exile at the Italian Open is any indication, he will rebound quickly.

“Sinner has an unbelievably good champion's mentality,” Tennis Channel analyst and elite coach Paul Annacone told me recently. “He has great composure. He doesn't get too high or too low, but he competes his ass off. And he's one of these quietly ultra-competitive guys who seems to deal with winning and losing equally well.”

That assessment was tested in the immediate aftermath of the French Open final. Although composed, his words to the press were laced with undertones of shell shock. But he did open a peephole into the champion’s mentality when a reporter asked him what he was thinking after he lost those championship points and the fourth set.

“It's quite obvious, no?” Sinner said, with clarity reminiscent of that realist, Sampras. “But [while] you are still playing, you don't think of the chances you had or something like this. I tried to delete everything, every set. I stayed there mentally. I didn't give him any free points. And when it was over, it was over. So, yeah. You cannot change anymore when the match is over.”

Standing at the brink of triumph, refusing to buckle to fear or frustration while one swing away from glory on multiple occasions, only to lose, is no way to live, either. It’s easy to overlook that in addition to anything else, Sinner was just plain unlucky.

In winning the longest final in French Open history (5:29), Alcaraz posted his fifth consecutive win over his rival, as well as inflicting Sinner’s first loss in three Grand Slam finals. On the eve of Wimbledon, the first question regarding this rivalry is: Can both men get to the final? If they do, the next question will have little to do with serves or backhands. It will simply be, “Is Carlos Alcaraz living in Jannik Sinner’s head?”

At one point in his post-final press conference Sinner said of the loss, “It’s difficult to accept now because I had lots of chances. But this is the good part of the sport. Also today it got me the sad part, no? But, you know, if you watch only the sad part, you're never going to come back, no? I believe I have improved as a player since last year, which is good. So we try to keep pushing.”

Sinner seems well-prepared to evict Alcaraz from his head, and to move the rivalry to the next level.