Milos Raonic sends warning to ATP players about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

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Milos Raonic has pointed out a concern he has for other players on the ATP Tour relating to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s dominance.

Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last eight major titles in a row, including playing each other in the past three Grand Slam finals.

The top two players on the ATP Tour will look to continue this at the first major of 2026, with Alcaraz and Sinner poised for a first final at the Australian Open against each other.

With many expecting them to meet in the championship match in Melbourne, former Wimbledon finalist and recently retired Raonic has admitted his concern for the rest of men’s tennis.

Milos Raonic explains why Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are different to the big three

Raonic announced his retirement from tennis just this past week, but prior to that spoke on The Changeover Podcast.

In this interview, Raonic was asked about the dominance of Alcaraz and Sinner, and how it compares to the era of the big three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

When explaining the differences between the two, Raonic pointed out that most of the rivals of Alcaraz and Sinner are older than them, leaving them with less time to fulfil their goals of winning a Grand Slam title.

“Sinner and Alcaraz have probably gapped themselves a bit more from three to 20, or at least quicker because when we got Federer it was just him for a bit and then it was Rafa on clay,” began Raonic. “Then Rafa became a conversation on all the surfaces, first it was grass and then it was all the hard court surfaces, but at the same time when Rafa got to all the surfaces Novak was there.

“And then there was this moment where we’re thinking there’s this stronghold, but it kind of came across like three gap generations, Roger is in ’81, Rafa’s in ’86 so five years ahead, but Rafa developed really early so maybe he had years ahead of Novak.

“So it came in waves, whereas these two guys one year apart, kind of just like cemented themselves kind of like a full stride ahead of the rest pretty quickly, so it never gave this other group a chance almost to believe there’s an opportunity for it.”

Raonic continued, “…The hard part is that like when I was growing up Novak, Roger and Rafa, they were always older than you, so you always felt like there was going to be your moment of time and then they just really extended how long they were there for. You’re like this guy is in the ninth inning and then they play an extra inning, and an extra inning, and all of a sudden you’re in like the 25th inning and you’re like ‘Okay, I think everybody wants this baseball game to be over’.

“The hard thing is for this group is like those guys they’re younger than you. Times not going to run out for them, your time is going to run out quicker than theirs right?

“So, who’s really there that’s like younger than them, there’s only really Fonseca…they only have three guys younger than them (Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Learner Tien were mentioned), but they only have three guys younger than them that have technically more time than they do, everybody else is on a shorter clock than they are. I think you could argue in that sense that it feels like the gap is bigger, but it could be just because these guys came in at the same time.”

When did neither Carlos Alcaraz nor Jannik Sinner last not win the title at a tournament they both played at?

While they have lost matches within the past couple of years, Alcaraz and Sinner have been nearly faultless at the biggest tournaments.

This is showcased by the last 14 tournaments in which they have both played matches at, where either Alcaraz and Sinner have gone on to win the title.

The last tournament in which this did not happen was at the Madrid Open in 2024, when Andrey Rublev won the title after beating Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, while Sinner withdrew mid-tournament due to a hip injury.

Alcaraz and Sinner will now be looking to make this 15 tournaments in a row where either player won the title at the Australian Open.

Sinner has won the Australian Open for the past two consecutive years, while Alcaraz is looking to make history by becoming the youngest player to complete the Career Slam.

After the opening day of the tournament, Alcaraz has won his opening match against Adam Walton, while Sinner will have to wait until Tuesday, January 20, to play his first round against Hugo Gaston.