Alcaraz and Sinner aiming for Nadal and Djokovic’s record in 2026

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are already looking ahead to the 2026 Australian Open, the only one of the four Grand Slams where the Spaniard and the Italian have yet to meet in a championship match, after facing each other in the finals of Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2025.

If Alcaraz and Sinner were to meet in the Australian Open final, they would become the first pair on the ATP Tour since 2011–12 to contest four consecutive Grand Slam finals against each other, according to the ATP. It would come at an Australian Open where Sinner would be defending his title and where Alcaraz would be aiming to complete his career set by winning the only major missing from his résumé. Notably, the pair have claimed the last eight Grand Slam titles between them – four apiece – and have met in the finals at Roland Garros and the US Open, both won by Alcaraz, and at Wimbledon, which went to Sinner.

In doing so, Alcaraz and Sinner would be matching the rivalry of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals between 2011 and 2012. Nadal and Djokovic met in the Wimbledon and US Open finals in 2011, and then at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2012, with Djokovic winning the first three encounters and Nadal taking the last.

The two could even surpass that historic run if, in addition to an Australian Open final, they were to face each other again for the title at Roland Garros. That would mark a fifth straight Grand Slam final between them, with Sinner having the chance to win the only major that has so far eluded him, further cementing a rivalry that already belongs in tennis history and edging ever closer to the standard set by Nadal, Roger Federer and Djokovic in the sport’s golden era.

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