Jannik Sinner was not about to announce the end of the "Big Three" after his breakthrough Grand Slam triumph at the Australian Open, but the 22year-old Italian does believe tennis needs a fresh generation of champions.
His five-set victory over Daniil Medvedev on Jan 28 made him the first Melbourne Park winner in 10 years not named Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer the trio of multiple champions who have dominated tennis for two decades.
Djokovic's incredible success into his mid-30s has delayed the decline of the "Big Three" but with Federer now retired and Nadal looking set to join him in 2024, a huge gap is opening up at the top of the game.
With his Melbourne triumph, Sinner has joined 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in the Grand Slam winners' club, spearheading a clutch of players of a similar age coming through.
"It's quite unpredictable what's coming in the future but still it's nice to be part of this generation," Sinner said as he posed with his trophy at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens on Jan 29.
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