Medvedev, Rune, Tsitsipas outside Wimbledon: Ko the challengers of Sinner and Alcaraz

Everyone to look for outsiders able to scratch the Duopoly Sinner-Alcaraz, and those fall like pins. Jannik and Carlos, we know, are from another planet. There is no doubt, however, that in this era of the post “Big Three” tennis he struggles to find players, apart from the two at the top of the ranking, who assert the stigmata of the top players, which affect fear against lower -ranking opponents, especially in the Slam. Eye, the surprises never missed, especially in Wimbledon, where the legendary field number 2 was nicknamed the “cemetery of champions”. The difference, today, lies in the repetitiveness of certain disappointments.

Three surprises

–

Today the London tournament has lost three players on which, in different periods, there were great expectations: Danieil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune. The first two are part of that generation of the middle between one era and the other, that is, between the unrepeatable epic of Djokovic-Federer-Nadal and the current show, still in the first acts, which features Sinner and Alcaraz. The Danish, on the other hand, belongs to the Next Gen but is already late compared to the treads. Medvedev, 29, and Tsitsipas, 26, had hoisted the first and third position, respectively in 2022 and 2021, that is, before the explosion of the duet. Everything is still possible, but the feeling is that their best season belongs to the archives. Also because, let’s face it frankly, Sinner and Alcaraz are bringing tennis – as at speed, power, resistance – at a level not within the reach of Russian and Greek. However, from here to witness a strawberry up fall into the ranking we pass: Medvedev, ninth in the last ranking, today is virtually out of the top ten; Tsitsipas has already slipped to the 26th step.

Medvedev

–

Daniil was eliminated by the French Bonzi, number 64 in the world, in four sets (7-6 3-6 7-6 6-2) without ever giving the impression of being able to direct the game in his favor. The other served very well, but Medvedev was the distant relative of what, a year ago, beat Sinner and reached the semifinals on the same meadows. It is true that the Russian showed up in London in confidence for the final reached in Halle, but in the Slam he sensationally failed three out of three tests in 2025: 2nd round at the Australian Open, 1st round at Roland Garros, 1st round in Wimbledon. The words of Medvedev in the post-match are playing as disarming: “I don’t think I played badly, I don’t see many things that I could do better. I am surprised at Bonzi: I would be surprised if I found another game at this level this year. Today I lost, but if I continue to play as in Halle or even as today, I can return to the top 10. For now I am not worried. If I finish the year around 15th place. Happy him …

Tsitsipas

–

Stefanos, who recently chose to rely on Ivanisevic to relaunch his career, retired after losing the first two sets (6-3 6-2) against another Frenchman, n.113 Royer, at the first career victory in a Slam. A performance conditioned by a physical back problem, the same that has been tormenting him for a couple of years, since the match against Rune at the ATP Finals of 2023. “From that day my body has become fragile. Tennis is a rotational sport. If you cannot rotate, you cannot play,” he explains, and then let off steam: “It hurts to see me in this situation. I have to decide in the next few months. Become a hell.

rune

–

Also outside the seeded n.8. The Danish gave in to Jarry’s fifth set: 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-4 the score in favor of the Chilean in free fall in the ranking (n.143), presented in London with a booty of just 6 out of 19 games in 2025, after reaching 16th place last year. In Rune, inconstant talent, the personality is not lacking, and it is one of the weapons, together with the enviable athleticism, which have brought it out in the circuit as a potential star. But often the personality deborts into arrogance transforming into a limit. You hear what he said after the defeat: “If I played normally, I would beat Jarry nine times out of ten. Today was not an easy day with the knee: in the fourth set I started to hear annoyance and I was no longer able to hit the service and the reverse as in the first two sets. It is a problem that I have already had in the past, I will speak with the staff and I will make a decision”.