Rick Macci, the veteran coach, set out a clear appraisal of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner after their recent rivalry reached a new peak. Between them they have claimed the last seven Grand Slam titles since the start of 2024, Sinner winning four and Alcaraz three. The pair have met in the finals at the last four events they have played, including the last two major championship matches.

Alcaraz produced a dramatic French Open victory, saving three match points to beat Sinner in a five-set classic that lasted five hours and 29 minutes. Sinner returned the favour at Wimbledon, beating Alcaraz in four sets to lift that title last month. With both men showing such sustained excellence, Macci offered a long-term projection for their Grand Slam totals.

In an exclusive interview, Macci backed both Alcaraz and Sinner to reach double figures in terms of Grand Slam titles.

“Listen, I think we’re seeing something very special in real time,” said the American, who coached Venus and Serena Williams.

Macci added context about projection and risk: “People are always gonna have their opinion, even four years ago when I said this about Alcaraz, where this was going with Sinner. And now here we are and here they are, and when I sit there – I don’t like throwing double digit Grand Slams out there – but to me, barring injury, mail it in.

“But you don’t wanna put ‘em in the rare air with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, you don’t even wanna go there because it’s such a journey, because there’s injury and so many things that can make a left turn for you.”

He praised their characters and mental make-up: “At the end of the day, they’re both amazing role models because they’re great people. And I think for parents and coaches, you wanna follow guys like that just like people would with Federer.

“And then you’ve got Alcaraz, he’ll lose a 20-ball rally and smile at you! I mean what is that all about? You go on about flipping pressure. And this is what coaches have to try to stress because let’s face it, everybody gets nervous, everybody chokes, it’s a pressure cooker out there.

“And Sinner, he’s almost like a machine. He’s the best on the planet ‘cause his mind’s made of granite. Just watch what they’re doing… I don’t see anybody, I don’t see anybody – barring injury – there’s no one in that neighbourhood now. It’s those two.

“That doesn’t mean they’re going undefeated, that doesn’t mean people can’t beat ‘em. I mean, you don’t feel like playing, you’re gonna lose. Three out of five [sets] at a Slam is trickier because it’s more mental.

“But they’re in a different category. And you can back the truck up to Federer, Nadal, Djokovic – when they played the Slams, you almost knew one of those three were gonna win it. Very seldom did you have a cameo.

“So yeah, we’re seeing greatness right in front of us. And hopefully neither of them get hurt and we can be enjoying this for the next 12, 15 years.”

Sinner and Alcaraz are competing at the 2025 US Open, where they could meet in yet another final.

Emma Raducanu produced one of her cleanest performances of the season in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Janice Tjen on Wednesday, and the scoreboard only told part of the story. The more revealing detail was the tone from the sideline, where new coach Francisco Roig kept up a steady stream of instructions, including an offhand line that stuck with Raducanu: “That’s normal.”

Raducanu admits she does not always catch everything he says. “You don’t really hear it unless you’re kind of lip-reading,” she says of Roig’s flow of chatter from the sidelines. Still, the message was clear during a first-set stretch when Raducanu led 3-0 and repeatedly chose to maintain pressure rather than coast. That approach helped her remove Tjen’s big forehand from play and put the younger player on the defensive.

Statistically the match was as tidy as Raducanu could have hoped for: eight aces, zero double faults, 79 percent of first serves in and 76 percent of points won on those serves. She finished with 16 winners to eight unforced errors and was not broken.

Raducanu called Tjen a “dangerous” opponent and noted she stayed vigilant throughout. “Of course I was on full alert playing today,” Raducanu said. “I thought any ball that I put mid-court was going to be punished. So I’m very pleased with how I kept dictating the points, I kept dictating the play, and didn’t let her too often get her front foot on the court.”

The pairing with Roig is new this summer and has already ramped up the work. They added an extra hour of practice after her first-round match, and Raducanu believes the recent emphasis is paying off. “I feel in the last few weeks I’ve really kind of stepped up with what I’m doing,” she said. “I’m really happy with the people I have in my corner.”

“Francis is a very good coach, and a man who can help Raducanu improve technically—he puts a lot of attention on this,” Toni Nadal told the BBC earlier this month.

Raducanu acknowledged a brief twinge of stiffness in her back late in the match but shrugged it off. “I’ve been doing a lot of training, and I’m just happy it didn’t affect me too much in the second set,” she said. “I think that from now on, I’m just going to focus on staying sharp and still practicing when I need to.”

With Roig emphasizing technique and routine, Raducanu appears to be settling into a clearer daily pattern as she prepares for the next round, where she could face Elena Rybakina.

Coco Gauff begins her main-draw campaign at the 2025 US Open under a microscope with serving form the central question. The 2023 champion has not played since a late-summer stretch marked by repeated double faults and a coaching change that brought biomechanic Gavin MacMillan onto her team.

“All eyes are going to be on the Gauff serve, and how does she approach the first serve,” former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport said ahead of Gauff’s opening match against Ajla Tomljanovic. “There’s been years where she’s gotten up there and gone for really aggressive first serves. Then, this year, she’s kind of stepped back from that, maybe because she hasn’t wanted to hit a lot of second serves. The double faults were a problem this summer.”

Gauff was at the peak of her season in June when she defeated world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to claim her second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros. Since leaving Europe she has struggled with a return of the serving yips, posting double-digit double faults at both the Omnium Banque Nationale and the Cincinnati Open, where she reached the fourth round and quarterfinals.

She was first seen on court with MacMillan during the US Open Fan Week, working on serve mechanics and her forehand. Just days before the tournament began, Gauff parted ways with coach Matt Daly and hired MacMillan, the coach credited with reworking Sabalenka’s serve in 2022 and paving the way for her 2023 major victory and rise to No. 1.

“For me, I just want to get better,” she said in her Media Day Press conference on Friday . “I’m obsessed with the process of getting better. Yeah, sometimes maybe it hurts because I get obsessed with it too much.

“I feel like I have a clear future where I see myself and I feel like I’m really close. I think this aspect of the game will bring everything together for me.”

Analysts point to Gauff’s athletic defense as a counterbalance to serving inconsistency. “The defense that she can bring, she can stay in any match regardless of how she’s serving,” said Rubin. “For a lot of players, the serve would have taken them completely out of some of these matches. They would not have been able to function. But Coco Gauff, she continues to be able to find ways to win.”

Jim Courier cautioned that the draw contains threats and will demand consistency if Gauff is to repeat as a major champion. “She’s no pushover,” he said. “[Donna] Vekic also can crack the ball. Noami Osaka could also be a challenge. Can she get past [Daria] Kasatkina? She’s clever, crafty. It’s never going to be easy to win a title like this. You’re always going to run into people who are feeling it as the tournament rolls on.”