Tennis Will See New Men's Major Winner for 1st Time in Years After Sinner's Upset, Alcaraz's Injury

Men's tennis is about to feature a major winner other than Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner for the first time since 2023.

Sinner was eliminated from Roland-Garros with a second-round defeat by Juan Manuel Cerundolo on Thursday. Alcaraz was already sitting out the tournament due to a right wrist injury.

Roland-Garros 2026 will mark the first major tournament without Sinner or Alcaraz as victor since the 2023 U.S. Open was won by Novak Djokovic.

Sinner started out the following season by winning the 2024 Australian Open, starting a streak of nine straight majors won by either him or Alcaraz.

Alcaraz most recently won the 2026 Australian Open before suffering the wrist injury that caused him to withdraw in April from Madrid.

wins (2024, 2025) to go alongside the 2024 U.S. Open and 2025 Wimbledon titles.

Alcaraz won twice at Roland-Garros (2024, 2025) while also winning at 2024 Wimbledon, the 2025 U.S. Open and the 2026 Australian Open.

With both Sinner and Alcaraz out, Djokovic is the only player remaining in the field who has previously won a major title. He could extend his all-time men's singles record with a 25th career win in Paris.

Sinner and Alcaraz will now come two major titles short of tying the all-time best streak set by a duo in the Open Era. That standard was set by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who won 11 straight major titles from 2006 to 2007.

Prior to the Sinner and Alcaraz era, the last duo to split nine straight wins was Nadal and Djokovic from 2010 to 2012. Federer ended that streak with a Wimbledon victory in 2012.

The latest era of dominance came to a close Thursday after Sinner started out with straight-set wins before struggling with cramps on a hot day in Paris.

Cerundolo ultimately won three straight sets to claim a 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 victory and advance to the third round.

Djokovic will now be favored to win the tournament after finishing the Australian Open as runner-up to Alcaraz earlier this year.

Although Djokovic said ahead of the tournament he felt he always had "a very good chance" to win regardless of whether or not Alcaraz was in the field, his path to the final will be simpler without either Sinner or the reigning Roland-Garros champion in the field.

Djokovic's tournament continues Friday with a third-round matchup against Brazil's Joao Fonseca.

Should Djokovic defeat Fonseca, his path to the quarterfinals could involve matchups with Norway's Casper Ruud, Australia's Alex De Minaur or Andrey Rublev of Russia.