Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have once again been dominating the men’s tennis headlines, as they faced off again in Riyadh.

Reaching the Six Kings Slam final and playing for a historic $6m prize fund, it marked their third meeting of 2024, although it will not go down in the official statistics.

Having failed to beat the Spaniard all season, it was big for Jannik Sinner to snap his using streak in emphatic fashion.

When watching these two take to the court against one another, it becomes abundantly clear just how much better than the rest of the field they are.

Speaking to Tennis Channel, seeking to offer his contemporary verdict on the brilliance that is Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner, Taylor Fritz would weigh in.

And, having lost to the latter of these young superstars in the most recent US Open final, he knows their level better than most.

He admitted: ‘I mean, one thing both of those guys do really well is just they… I mean their defence is incredible. I think more so though, their defence is amazing but they don’t really play that much defence. Their defence is like, you know, when they’re full, on the run, out of the corners, they just crush the ball.

‘I guess a good example is like I can be a backhand cross rally with either one of them. If I get around one, pull a forehand inside in or pull back in line it’s got to be so good or else the next one is just getting like drilled huge cross court and they just play these lateral baseline points like…

‘I mean these crazy points that you see like Nadal, Fed… mostly you see like Nadal and Novak have these long points corner to corner, but like when Sinner and Alcaraz do it I swear they’re the same but hitting the ball 10pmh faster. It’s crazy.’

There has been a lot of talk lately, comparing this generation’s dominant pair to the Big Three that came before them.

And, realistically, it is far too early to judge.

Yes, Alcaraz may be the youngest of them all to have reached four Grand Slam titles, and the youngest to have won a Grand Slam title on all three surfaces too.

But realistically, and this is through no fault of their own, Alcaraz and Sinner simply cannot understand what it was like to be a part of the Big Three’s generation, and having to compete with them and others for elite honours.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, had they existed alone, would have by far the most major titles in the history of the sport, and it was only through their shared existence that all three of them were capped at 20, 22 and 24 respectively.

And that’s without mentioning players like Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Roddick, all of whom sought to challenge them as well, with varied success.

Alcaraz and Sinner may well finish their careers with more Grand Slam titles than any of these mentioned, but unless the standard of the entire men’s circuit increases, it will not be nearly as impressive as the Big Three’s accomplishments.