Men's tennis season in review: Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz rise, Novak Djokovic's best and worst year

Tennis is finally a breather. After four Grand Slams, another 56 ATP Tour tournaments and the small matter of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, the tennis calendar is entering the off-season, with players usually found first in the Maldives and then on the practice courts before the new season starts. Australia and New Zealand at the end of December.

In a look back at the 2024 ATP season: The AthleticsThe team's tennis team looks back on Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz's remastering of men's tennis; Novak Djokovic's best worst year; the rise of Taylor Fritz and the retirement of two legends.

They also pick their best and favorite matches, surprises and moments from another remarkable year in on-court tennis.

Don't forget to let us know in the comments of your picks that there is plenty of tennis to review.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz's remake of the tennis court

James Hansen: How did Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz get so far away from the rest in 2024?

Charlie Eccleshare: The variety they have in their games, which is inherent to Alcaraz and who recently works for Sinner with the improvements he made to his drop shot. We've seen so many potential successors to the Big Three essentially wither because they can only do one thing. I remember watching the 2023 US Open final between Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev and it was just so crazy because Medevedev could ask Djokovic the same question over and over again. He's Djokovic, he's going to figure it out. Alcaraz and Sinner can adapt in ways that the other guys just can't right now. Of course, it helps that they're ridiculously fast and talented, but that's how they separated themselves from the rest of the field, which now looks one-dimensional in comparison.

GO DEEPER

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner compete against each other in their own tennis star system

Matt Futterman: The most important thing for me is that they eliminated shots two through four in every rally. They go straight to what shot five would be for most tennis players: the first shot. I was really shocked by what Casper Ruud said at the ATP Tour Finals in Turin, where he basically admitted that he can't keep up with how they've turned tennis into this ultra-attacking game of chicken. Ruud actually said that he learned to play tennis in a certain way and that that way no longer works. It feels like every other player at the substitutions, except maybe some of the newer players, would say something like: Don't you know we're supposed to exchange a few shots before either of us attacks?

It's almost like playing serve-and-volley without running to the net. They have redefined where on the pitch you can play offensively. Once the point starts, they'll come after you. It's better to attack before they do, and even if you do, they'll probably still steal the point from you.

The tennis style of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz made it difficult to keep up for the rest of the tour. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Eccleshare: For now, you can trust that Alcaraz will have a crazy day every now and then. But Sinner doesn't have one.

Hansen: It seems remarkable in a year that Alcaraz has a 3-0 record against Sinner (half of Sinner's losses all year). Sinner has overtaken him from a serving perspective, which I think makes his easy matches easier. He can now hit the lines with such regularity that he can come out of games where his basic shots aren't quite there. It's probably the only shot where he consistently outperforms him.

Eccleshare: The Sinners floor is also higher for the time being. The WADA appeal against his doping case, which the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is not expected to hear before the US Open, will have a huge impact at the top of the ATP Tour sometime in 2025. A ban on Sinner would change things substantially.

How can you determine Novak Djokovic's 2024?

Hansen: Especially considering a metal water bottle to the head and a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, could Novak Djokovic have had a better worst tennis year in a while than this?

Eccleshare: It could be the best historically bad year ever for a certain player. It's the first time he hasn't won an ATP Tour title since 2005 and his first year without a Grand Slam title since 2017. But he reached the Wimbledon final just over five weeks after knee surgery, achieving the only feat in tennis he wanted most. others by winning Olympic gold. The only thing that feels different this time is that for the first time since probably 2011, things are now out of his hands. If other players play at their level, he won't always win.

Futterman: I think he would win the French Open. Australia would have been short-changed if they had lost to Sinner in five minutes. I wouldn't think so, but he didn't really show up that day and after that he wasn't great until the French Open, when he seemed to come back to himself with that incredible 3:06. I beat Lorenzo Musetti before he got injured. After that, all he cared about was Wimbledon and the Olympics, reaching the Wimbledon final in one leg and then winning the Olympics. Season over. In that context, he can't ask for much more.

GO DEEPER

A look inside Novak Djokovic's recovery: Accepting outsiders, hyperbaric chambers, Jelena's concerns

GO DEEPER

Novak Djokovic knew he would win Olympic gold – he just didn't know when

The rise of Taylor Fritz after another year of doubts

HansenTaylor Fritz has spent another year challenging doubters against a slew of up-and-coming American talents, and he's spent it going further than ever before: his first Grand Slam final and a career high at No. 4 in the world. do it?

Futterman: I don't think you can downplay how much of a lump he was three years ago and how much better he moves now, how much better he trains now. It's nothing earth-shattering. He had great service; he made it better. He has made his forehand more reliable, so he can hit it much harder and with less passive flow. The backhand is just as solid as in his matches against Alexander Zverev this year. He has taken the height off his ball, which is a different response to Sinner and Alcaraz, as they can crush pretty much anything above their waist.

Eccleshare: After talking to him about his career, he said that he feels a very big difference now compared to the height of the Big Three era. There is now at least a path to the final stages of Grand Slams and the top of the rankings if you get hot, whereas before I think he would get demoralized by every time he had a reasonably good run against Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal having to play.

I asked him about it after the US Open final and he even felt like he hadn't played miles better than before. Maybe that's not quite realizing his own improvements, or modesty, but he reached a Grand Slam final without beating anyone in a wow kind of way. He was solid enough to take advantage of things that opened up for him, when before he could never have seen that situation happening. This should also apply to more players in the future.

Taylor Fritz had the best year of his career. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press)

Improvements and disappointments, for themselves

Hansen: Which players stood out to you as making improvements and which players will be disappointed with their seasons?

Eccleshare: Jack Draper's progress at the US Open stood out to me as he played more consistently and better rather than putting in a knockout performance. To finish No. 15 in the world and with a serious chance of cracking the top 10, finally winning a title and advancing beyond the fourth round of a Slam, achieving his first major victory by beating Alcaraz in Queens. He is now someone who you think can reach a final if he plays well.

Futterman: Zverev. If the bar is set on who's better than them, considering where he was still coming back from the French Open injury against Nadal a year ago, I think he and Fritz are the only players from that 1990s group who can achieve the mission of Sinner and Alcaraz have truly embraced the pursuit by committing to a change in the way they play tennis. They move better, their serve is better, their brains are better.

Hansen: And the opposite?

Futterman: Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tiafoe believes he should have been in the US Open final and he knows the extent of his ability, while playing for it too rarely. Tsitsipas feels similar to Ruud, he learned his game in a certain way and is slowly realizing that it won't work anymore.

Hansen: For breakthroughs, Arthur Fils, Tomas Machac and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard deserve mentions, as do Lorenzo Musetti's improvements, especially on the natural surfaces he loves.

GO DEEPER

Britain wants Jack Draper to be its tennis hero, but he feels in New York

And finally, two huge retirements

Hansen: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray's departure from tennis was a reminder of their greatness, and a reminder that this sport, perhaps more than any other, does not provide an ideal farewell.

How Andy Murray left tennis

How Rafael Nadal left tennis

ATP Tour Speed ​​Run 2024

Best agreement:

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Novak DjokovicOlympic Gold Medal Match (MF, CE)
Novak Djokovic vs… Lorenzo MusettiFrench Open third round (JH)

Favorite agreement:

Adrian Mannarino vs. Ben SheltonAustralian Open third round (MF)
Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik SinnerChina Open final (CE)
Corentin Moutet vs. Shang JunchengMadrid Open first round (JH)

Most memorable (not necessarily best!) recording:

Novak Djokovics forehand winner at 2-2 in the tiebreak of the second set of the Olympic gold medal match (MF)

Carlos Alcarazs backhand flick pass in the last set of the French Open final against Alexander Zverev (CE)

Carlos AlcarazIf he is at 5-6 in the third set of the Wimbledon final, he should have won 10 minutes before making this shot (JH)

(Top photo: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)