'I've beaten Alcaraz and Sinner but this is one worry I have for men's tennis'

Taylor Fritz has cemented himself as one of the world's best players in the post-Big Three era. The American has peaked at No. 4 in the world, finished runner-up at the US Open last year, and has 10 titles to his name, including a previous win in Indian Wells. But the 28-year-old has yet to reach the very top of the game, as there are usually two players in his way.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have monopolised the sport. They've split the last eight Grand Slam titles and shared the world No. 1 ranking at various points throughout the year. Having started his career when the Big Three were all still playing, Fritz is now concerned that, in order to win the biggest titles, the rest of the field will always have to go through one or both of Alcaraz and Sinner.

Fritz ended his 2025 season with a loss to Alex de Minaur at the ATP Finals in Turin on Thursday. Despite finishing runner-up last year, the American was unable to make it out of the group stage this time around.

After suffering a 7-6(3) 6-3 defeat, the world No. 6 was reminded of some comments he made 18 months ago, suggesting that tennis would become more open in the post-Big Three era, with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal now retired, and Novak Djokovic being selective with his schedule.

While there have been new champions at Masters 1000 level and below this season, Alcaraz and Sinner have still shared the Grand Slam titles and been thousands of points ahead of their rivals at the top of the rankings. And Fritz was surprised to learn that he thought the sport would become so open.

"When did I say that? Three years, four years ago? Now we're just in the big two," he smiled.

Although Alcaraz and Sinner are still making it tough for their rivals to get their hands on the biggest titles, Fritz believes he's getting close to them - and he has wins over both men, despite holding a losing record against them.

He continued: "I think the difference is back when we had the Big Three, I mean, I'm a lot better of a player now. I think obviously if I play well, I can play a close match with Carlos, like we saw.

"Yeah, I need to continue to improve. That's just what my focus is. Obviously those two are ahead of everyone. The draws are open when one of them... I mean, [in] Shanghai, Carlos doesn't play, Jannik happens to lose, something like that. But no, I wouldn't say things are super open. If you want to win a big title, more than likely you're going to have to beat one of 'em, maybe both of 'em.

"That's kind of just what my focus is on, trying to get healthy so then I can put in the time on the court to practice and improve and try to get better and work on the things I need to work on and to continue to try and close the gap. Yeah, that's kind of how I see it."

Fritz will have plenty of time to try and close that gap as he heads into the off-season, knowing he doesn't have to play a match again until January. "I'm going to have a little bit of time off. I'm really excited. This is the first off-season I'm going to have in probably three or four years that's three weeks or more than three weeks," he explained.