Juan Martin del Potro has offered a clear view on the current rivalry shaping men’s tennis, saying Carlos Alcaraz brings qualities that set him apart from Jannik Sinner. In his assessment, the Spaniard possesses an extra dimension that goes beyond results and technique.

This season marks 17 years since del Potro stunned the sport at the US Open by winning the only Grand Slam title of his career. He produced one of the most memorable finals of that era, beating five-time defending champion Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2. Federer had served for a two-set lead and later stood just two points from victory in the fourth set, but del Potro found a way through.

The triumph, however, came with a heavy price. Since that breakthrough, the Argentine’s career has been interrupted repeatedly by injuries. The problems began in 2010 with surgery on his right wrist for a tendon injury, and over the next 12 years he went through eight more surgeries along with many other physical setbacks.

A fractured knee in 2019, after he had reached another US Open final the year before, effectively ended his career. Following several operations, he was left unable to climb stairs without pain and depended on daily medication to live comfortably.

“The day I lifted the US Open trophy after defeating Federer was the happiest day of my life. If I had known everything that it would ultimately cost me, I would have thought twice,” said the former Grand Slam champion during an interview with outlet Corriere della Sera.

Although he has played only one professional match since that injury, his retirement match at the 2022 edition of the Buenos Aires ATP 250 tournament, del Potro remains willing to speak about the game. On Alcaraz and Sinner, he said, “Jannik reminds me a lot of [Novak] Djokovic because of his characteristics. The elasticity, the speed, the solidity from the back of the court and his intelligence,” and added, “Carlitos is a special being; he has something more. He has the empathy and the ability to connect with people. He has Latin blood and a smile capable of winning over anyone.

“I would have to ask him not to play drop shots, because he wouldn’t reach any!”

He also echoed concerns about the demands of the calendar, backing the idea that players must listen to their bodies. “Carlitos is right when he says he will play the tournaments he wants and not those in which he is asked to be present,” he added. “I think this will become a widespread trend among the top players on the circuit. It’s important to listen to your own body. My mistake, unlike Alcaraz, was not giving my wrist all the time it needed to fully recover.

“These guys have to perform at their best every week of the year, and that is too much. But they are so superior to the rest that, even if they are away from competition for a long time, they barely drop in the rankings.”

Alexander Zverev has continued to reduce the distance to Jannik Sinner in the ATP Rankings, while Carlos Alcaraz has slipped further back after failing to defend his US Open title and Novak Djokovic has suffered a major setback.

Sinner set the pace through the early part of 2026, leaving Zverev more than 9,000 points behind at one stage. But the German has steadily improved his position thanks to his French Open triumph and runner-up finish at Wimbledon, and his run to the US Open final has tightened the race again.

Before the final at Flushing Meadows, the gap to Sinner, who missed the event because of injury, had been cut to 2,510. If Zverev goes on to win the title, he could leave New York only 1,810 points behind the Italian.

Alcaraz began the tournament 630 points behind Zverev, having already missed four months with injury. His quarter-final defeat in New York deepened the problem, after he dropped 2,000 points from the start of the event and collected only 400 for reaching the last eight. That leaves him more than 3,000 points behind Zverev, while Ben Shelton has closed to within 880 points.

Shelton’s semi-final run has pushed him five places to No 4 in the Live Rankings, and a title would leave him just 180 points behind Alcaraz. Frances Tiafoe is another mover, rising four places to a career-best No 8.

Djokovic’s early exit has been costly. The 24-time Grand Slam winner is out of the top 10 for the first time since July 2018 after his shock first-round loss to Mariano Navone. Having defended 800 points from last year’s semi-final, he dropped 790 and slid to No 12.

Karen Khachanov, Alexander Blockx, Alex Michelsen, Botic van de Zandschulp, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Arthur Gea, Michael Zheng, Toby Samuel, Yibing Wu and Dane Sweeny were among the other players to make notable gains, while Raphael Collignon, Nuno Borges, Thiago Agustin Tirante, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniel Altmaier, Jaume Munar, Tomas Machac, Alex Molcan, Holger Rune and Jack Draper all moved down.

Carlos Alcaraz has been advised that a stronger serve is the key if he is to get back to his highest level, after that area proved decisive in his defeat to Ben Shelton.

The Spaniard was beaten 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) in a tense quarter-final, with Shelton becoming only the second player to defeat him in a fifth set. Matteo Berrettini had previously managed that at the 2022 Australian Open.

The match was Alcaraz’s first professional tournament in almost five months, following a wrist injury at the beginning of the clay-court season. Even after the layoff, the world No. 3 looked sharp on his way to the quarter-finals, highlighted by a fourth-round win in which he controlled 20th seed Tommy Paul.

Former world No. 1 Jim Courier said the overall showing remained encouraging, but he felt the lack of extra pace and authority on serve ultimately cost Alcaraz. “I love the way he feels. He told us that he’s smiling, he’s happy that he feels healthy,” Courier began during a Tennis Channel segment.

“The next step for him is to shake a little bit of that big match rust. That was on display last night.

“No question that he didn’t perform in that match tiebreak the way he did at Roland Garros in the match tiebreak for the championship against Jannik Sinner.

“Of course, Shelton had a lot to do with that with his serve and his weaponry.

“But for him, he needs to find that extra gear on his serve. That’s the one thing that we did not see at the US Open.

“We did not see serves 137[MPH], 130. It was 127, 128 at the top end, so he’s missing a gear there.

“We’ll see if that’s just a psychological barrier he has to get by or if he actually has something still happening in his wrist that’s preventing that.”

Courier also praised Shelton’s progress, noting that the American has reached his second semi-final at the US Open and will next face fellow countryman and friend Frances Tiafoe for a place in the final.

“You could sort of see this performance coming if you got to see him up close in Canada this year, where he ran the table for the second straight year, winning that Masters 1000,” Courier added.

“But playing at a level he’d never sustained for that many matches in a row.

“The return of serve – he’s been working all season long on being more aggressive with his return, and it hasn’t worked out for him for much of the year.

“His return numbers are actually poor. He’s breaking serve far less on average this season.

“But he was putting the work in – just like the last couple of years he’s been putting in one serve and volley a game, just to kind of hone that skill – and the volleys he needed to come up with today, they were there for him.

“This is a culmination – this match – of a lot of work that they’ve been done it. May not be the culmination of his US Open – he’s got work to do there – but all of that work, he saw it come to fruition in the biggest examination of his career at a major so far. It was awesome.”