Alcaraz and Sinner shared the four Grand Slam titles between them in 2024, as they established an impressive dominance over their rivals in the best-of-five-set format.
Sinner got the ball rolling as he won his first major title at the Australian Open in January before Alcaraz won his first French Open title and then defending his Wimbledon crown in sparkling fashion. Wimbledon remains one of the most popular events for betting promotions in England.
World No 1 Sinner then cashed in on a shock early exit for Alcaraz at the US Open as he won his first title in New York, with the new ‘Big 2’ in the men’s game looking well placed to continue their dominance next year.
It’s too early in this rivalry to predict who will emerge as the ultimate winner of Alcaraz vs Sinner rivalry, but Niland believes it is the young Spaniard who is blessed with more talent.
“I still like Alcaraz a little more than Sinner. I feel like he has a slightly deeper level of talent than Sinner, but they are not far off,” Niland told Tennis365, as he waits to discover if his brilliant book, The Racket, will claim 2024 William Hill Sports Book Of The Year Award when the winner of the prestigious prize is revealed next week.
“What’s great about Sinner is there is never any drama around him on the tennis court. Of course, the whole drug test scenario has come up in the last few months, but he is very calm on court.
“Then you look at Alcaraz and what he has achieved at such a young age is just amazing.
“I didn’t think would be able to go back-to-back and win the French Open and Wimbledon. Then to back it up with an incredible final against Novak at the Olympics, it was an incredible summer for Alcaraz.
“There was a natural fall-off at the US Open and he is still out there playing Davis Cup and ATP Finals, but we need to remember how old this guy is and what he has done when he does lose the odd match.”
The tennis family feared a huge hole would be left in the sport when the ‘Big 4’ retired, but Alcaraz and Sinner have confirmed tennis will have a bright future over the next decade.
“We need to back ourselves a bit more as a sport when we lose our big names. We had this when Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe’s rivalry ended and maybe a little with (Boris) Becker and (Stefan) Edberg as well,” added Niland, who played Djokovic in the 2011 US Open.
“(Pete) Sampras and (Andre) Agassi had a great rivalry, but it was a little in fits and starts and then everyone was worried, naturally, what would happen when the Big 3 or Big 4 were no longer playing, but Alcaraz and Sinner and replaced them.
“They are so young and this could go on for a few years. I thought maybe a player like Holger Rune would challenge them, but he doesn’t quite seem to be there mentally at the moment, but we are all enjoying this new rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner.”
