For nearly 20 years from the mid-2000s, world men’s tennis was the ‘Big 3’ era of Roger Federer (Switzerland, retired), Rafael Nadal (141st, Spain), and Novak Djokovic (2nd, Serbia).

Now that Federer has retired and Nadal has announced his retirement next year, Djokovic has a new rival. Carlos Alkaras (1st place, Spain), a ‘divine’ who is 16 years old, quickly took first place in the world rankings and is vigorously challenging Djokovic’s stronghold.메이저놀이터

The US Open men’s singles, the last major tournament of tennis this year, which opens on the 28th, is expected to be a fight between ‘New Big 2’ Alkaras and Djokovic.

The overall record of Alkaras and Djokovic is tight with 2 wins and 2 losses. Last year, Alkaras won the first match in the semifinals of the Madrid Open, the Masters 1000 series, but Djokovic has the upper hand in three matches this year with 2 wins and 1 loss.

The fights between the two were always close. In the semifinals of the French Open, which was the first match of the year, Alkaras collapsed due to muscle cramps during the match, but the subsequent two matches were bloody.

In the Wimbledon final, after a full set match of 4 hours and 42 minutes, Alkaras won 3-2 and reached the top of the tournament for the first time. The scene where he broke Djokovic’s serve game with a game score of 3-1 in the 3rd set after 13 deuce battles became a match that will remain in the history of Wimbledon. In the Cincinnati Open final held on the 21st, only three sets were played, but Djokovic won 2-1 in a fierce battle of 3 hours and 49 minutes.

After winning the US Open last year, Alkaras set the record for the youngest world No. 1 player. If he wins again, he will become the first player to win two U.S. Open titles in a row since Federer, who won five straight from 2004 to 2008. If Djokovic wins, he will rise to the joint second place (4 times) with Nadal and John McEnroe (USA, retired) for the most US Open wins.

Meanwhile, Kwon Soon-woo (ranked 104th), who has been unable to compete due to a shoulder injury after advancing to the round of 16 at the Exxon Mobile Open in Qatar in February of this year, will make a comeback through the US Open in six months. Kwon Soon-woo’s opponent in the first round is Christopher Eubanks (30th, USA).