NOW IS THE TIME FOR TENNIS TO SERVE BIG

If you watched the 2025 French Open final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, then congratulations, because you witnessed what the sport has to offer when played at its highest form.

That match didn’t just decide a champion — it lit a fuse. Sinner, calm and surgical, versus Alcaraz, who plays like he’s channeling Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic all at once. It was pure chaos in the best way. These two aren’t just elite — they’ve got that it factor to carry the sport for the next 10-plus years and hopefully, tennis doesn’t squander it.

We’ve seen what rivalries can do: Sampras–Agassi. Fed–Nadal. Djokovic vs. literally everyone. Sinner and Alcaraz could be the next big chapter.

However, if tennis wants to hit it big again in America, it might need one more piece.

Americans love greatness. Hell, half the kids I went to school with in the ’90s in northeast Ohio were Bulls fans but are now Cavs fans, so without a top-tier American male winning Slams or at least making deep runs regularly, tennis in America keeps getting pushed further down on the totem pole.

There are some names: Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, and Ben Shelton, who have had moments.

Add one of them or someone new to this Sinner vs. Alcaraz rivalry, and suddenly we’ve got ourselves a modern Big Three, and tennis might capture the attention of the casual American sports fan again.

Tennis has another chance to capture the casual sport fan in America with the boom of internet sports gambling now in 32 states across the United States.

With matches popping off almost every day from early morning in Melbourne to late night in Paris, it never stops, and the sport has a chance to at least capture degenerate gamblers.

Think about it: you can’t bet on NFL games in June. But you can bet on ATP 250s in Mallorca or Challenger events in South America. Tennis is like this hidden gem just waiting for people to realize how chaotic (and profitable) it can be.

The sport just needs that one big push on the men’s side to take it to the next level.

Build the Sinner–Alcaraz rivalry. Market the hell out of it. Give people a reason to follow the tour between Slams and hope that an American crashes the party and adds the intrigue of the sport on this side of the pond.

Tennis has the talent and the global stage. The moment’s here. Let’s hope the sport doesn’t double-fault it away.