Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the top-ranked players in men’s tennis, and their duopoly over the ATP Tour is overwhelming.
Nobody comes close to them, and yet, despite their regular meetings at the back-end of events, they retain a friendly relationship.
Whenever asked about the other, they have nothing but positive things to say, and that has even been exhibited after their great rival has inflicted gut-wrenching losses in major finals too.
So, it’s only natural that such affability might pave the way to a potential partnership between the two in the coming years.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner speak about playing doubles together
Asked about the likelihood of them ever playing doubles together, as they sat side by side in a recent press conference in Korea, both players gave intriguing answers.
Carlos Alcaraz went first and offered a short but sweet assessment with just one condition: “At least once would be fine. But I think I’m playing forehand and he’s playing backhand, if my partner agrees [points at Jannik].”
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Jannik Sinner replied: “Yeah, I agree on that for sure.
“We have never talked about this, but I think it would be fun at least one time to share the court in different ways, on the same side.
“Of course, the schedule, we are so focused on singles that it is very difficult. If you go deep in singles, but then you also have to play doubles, you don’t have the right recovery.
“For one tournament, it’d be great to do it. We’re going to talk about it. Maybe this year, or next year, it’s gonna be a surprise.”
Tennis fans recently picked their favourite between Alcaraz and Sinner, and there was a clear winner as they seek to do battle once again.
Other top-ranked players to have played doubles together
Whilst players sitting near the top of the world rankings have joined forces plenty of times over the years, seldom have they been ranked first and second.
The only outstanding example of that would be Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who did so at the 2017 Laver Cup.
Other than that, the likes of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have teamed up, but never whilst occupying the two top spots.
Similarly, Serena and Venus Williams were only ever ranked first and second in the world at the same time on a brief handful of occasions, despite their long and supremely successful doubles career.
Name your dream mixed doubles pairing from tennis history
There have been a few star duos at the United Cup…
Were Alcaraz and Sinner to take the plunge and enter the doubles arena together, it would be an unprecedented union that would surely have the entire sporting world talking.
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