There is nothing quite like a good comeback story, especially when it comes to sports. Just when you think someone has neared the end of their run, they go back to training and return with a new sort of drive that propels them to all the victories. Jannik Sinner made quite a comeback after he nearly lost to Dimitrov in the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year, and Carlos Alcaraz is surely looking to make his comeback next year.

And, look at Iga Swiatek! She faced all kinds of heat this past year for her losses at Rolland Garros and the Italian Open, but came back to Wimbledon and didn’t concede a single set in the final, a real, solid comeback, and while she achieved hers, a fellow country man from Poland is trying to get closer to achieving his. This is none other than Hubert Hurkacz.

Hurkacz, now 28, was a constant fixture in the top ten, until he suffered a knee injury in 2024 and dropped to 41st place. He remains in the recovery process, and while he pulled out of Wimbledon 2025, whether or not he will make it to the US Open this year is yet to be seen. However, he is very adamant about coming back stronger when the time comes and it seems he is taking some inspiration from World No.1 and 2 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz respectively.

When asked to speak on the level of tennis being played by Alcaraz and Sinner, Hurkacz had this to say, “We can say that both are playing at an incredible level now, and keeping up depends on us. We have to work hard to reach those levels, that’s why I get up every morning. They set an ambitious goal, so it’s our goal too. It’s no secret that I still have the ambition to win all the Grand Slams,” so it seems that Sinner and Alcaraz are doing more than just winning games for themselves, they seem to be raising the level at which the sport is played as a whole, which means we are witnessing a truly historic moment in sport.

Are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz saving men’s tennis: A comparison between this era and that of the Big 4

There has been much debate for some time now on whether the Big 4 could face off against these two young stars based off of sheer technique and advancement in training with time. Well, luckily there are some players who’ve stuck around long enough to see both eras, i.e., the Big 4 and the dawn of the Sinner-Alcaraz age. 28 year old Hubert Hurkacz and long time top ten fixture until a few months ago, is precisely one of those players.

On the difference between the standard of the game ten years ago and now, Hurkacz said, “I feel that the level grows each year, and obviously we can say it is superior to that of 10 years ago, but that doesn’t mean the Big 4 couldn’t reach where we are now. They improved every year and raised the bar each time, so they would do the same if they were playing now.”Hurckacz managed to play that quite diplomatically, using time as the grand determinator.

Who’s to say whether the Big 4 would thrive the way they once did in this new era? With different coaching practices, educational information and perspectives on the game, anything is possible. But for now, it looks like we are witnessing our current Big 2 take the game into their own hands and mould it to their liking! Thankfully, they’ve also got a bromance going, so we won’t have to miss that Federer-Nadal rivalry too much.