The ATP Tour is reaching another dramatic conclusion this week, even without star players Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
The first and second seeds are playing in three ATP finals out of three this week, which has only happened twice before.
Alex de Minaur is taking on Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Rotterdam Open, with their match followed by those at the Dallas Open and the Argentina Open.
Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton meet in the final of the former, with Francisco Cerundolo taking on Luciano Darderi in the latter.
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Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have inspired top seeds to step up
Alcaraz and Sinner will return at the Qatar Open, which takes place in Doha immediately after the current three tournaments.
The duo have been the dominant forces on the ATP Tour in recent seasons, but their current absences have opened the door for new champions.
But they have arguably made an even bigger impact given the situation with the top two seeds in Rotterdam, Dallas and Buenos Aires.
Such seeds have seemingly been inspired by Sinner and Alcaraz to step up in their absence, having started the events knowing the increased chances of success without the leading pair.
Their dominance should be constantly motivating others to step up their games, but that hasn’t exactly happened too often of late.
But now the high-profile names are making the most of their rare seeded status to seize an even rarer chance of success.
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Sinner and Alcaraz are clearly the two biggest superstars on the ATP Tour, which was perhaps anticipating breaks from their pair after the Australian Open.
They will now be welcomed back with open arms in Doha, where another final between the pair is on the cards.
That may be viewed by many fans as a positive, with the pair often playing out dramatic, high-quality finals where both have an equal chance of success.
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However, there is the other side of the coin that suggests men’s tennis has become boring with two dominant players and no more.
It was the same situation before their emergence, although importantly in that case there were three stars rather than just two.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer enjoyed a fierce rivalry and dominance for some time, with only the Serbian still playing after his two old foes retired.
Djokovic has just withdrawn from Qatar, which has just boosted the chances of another final between Sinner and Alcaraz.
And that would continue this week’s remarkable trend of top seeded finals given that Alcaraz and Sinner are the first and second seeds respectively in Doha.
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