Frances Tiafoe says someone needs to step up and challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, but adds Novak Djokovic doesn't fall into that category anymore.
It has been exactly two years since someone outside of Alcaraz and Sinner won a Grand Slam tournament. Unless something drastic changes, the current two top-ranked players in men's tennis will also enter the 2026 Australian Open as by far the two biggest favorites for the main glory.
In all but one Grand Slam final this year, Alcaraz and Sinner clashed against each other - only at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev made the title match but lost to the Italian easily in straight sets.
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Tiafoe, who made the US Open semifinal in 2022 and 2024, didn't have a great Grand Slam year this season and he didn't come anywhere near challenging Alcaraz and Sinner for the biggest titles.
Djokovic reached the semifinal in all Grand Slam tournaments this year - but since he is 38 years old - Tiafoe doesn't see the Serb as a long-term challenge for the two most dominant players in the game.
Tiafoe: Who's the third guy to challenge Alcaraz and Sinner? Djokovic doesn't count
There's a couple more guys who've got to join them. I'm not saying beat them, but there's got to be (other) guys - and that motivates me," Tiafoe told the Olympics website.
Im like, yo, who's that third guy? Who's that fourth guy? Novak (Djokovic) doesn't count. Hes 40. I love him, but doesn't count. Hes 40. He's a GOAT, he's the best player of all time. He's not with those guys.
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Who is that other guy or two to be there and maybe beat these guys? That would be the quote-unquote Novak and (Andy) Murray - before Novak went and did what he did. Who are those guys? And there's a bunch of guys who can be that guy, right? So that's really motivating me. It's like, See big picture. That's motivating.
In his first Grand Slam semifinal at the 2022 US Open, Tiafoe lost to Alcaraz. Last year, the American was beaten by fellow compatriot Fritz in the same stage at Flushing Meadows.
