ATP Tour
Djokovic vs. Alcaraz: An inter-generational rivalry for the ages
A look at the uniqueness of the Djokovic-Alcaraz rivalry
September 05, 2025
Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic on court together at Wimbledon earlier this year.
By Andrew Eichenholz
There are many fantasy matchups fans would love to see between players from different generations. Who would not love to watch Bjorn Borg take on Pete Sampras, or Roger Federer play his idol and eventual coach Stefan Edberg?
The age gap between those two pairs — 15 years for both — is actually smaller than the 16 years that separate 22-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, who will meet Friday in the US Open semi-finals. Alcaraz and Djokovic might not seem like conventional opponents on the biggest stages in sport, but over the past three years they have built an inter-generational rivalry that will be remembered for years to come.
There is not much precedent for such a rivalry in all of sport. Nearly 13 years separate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, who became fierce opponents for F1 glory. Floyd Mayweather boxed Canelo Alvarez, 13 years his junior, but they were not both in the prime of their careers.
In tennis, Serena Williams is 16 years older than Naomi Osaka, but they only met four times, whereas Djokovic leads Alcaraz 5-3 in their series and they are adding a ninth chapter Friday.
Roger Federer recently played into his late 30s and made the 2021 Wimbledon quarter-finals aged 39. But the Swiss’ rivals were still Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who were his contemporaries.
From the first chapter of the Djokovic-Alcaraz Lexus ATP Head2Head series at the 2022 Mutua Madrid Open through their meeting earlier this year at the Australian Open, the two stars have met for some of the biggest prizes in tennis, including two major finals, the Paris Olympics gold medal match and an ATP Masters 1000 final. Their quarter-final in Melbourne this season was their earliest meeting at any tournament.
It is largely being made possible by Djokovic’s longevity. The Serbian is seven years older now than his idol, Sampras, was when the American played his final match aged 31. Yet Djokovic is still competing deep into major tournaments. In 2025, he has made the last four at all the Slam tournaments. The man who commentated on the first Djokovic-Alcaraz clash, Nick Lester, is not surprised.
“I never forget Andre Agassi saying, when he worked in a very short period with Novak, that Djokovic as a 40-year-old will still probably be competing at the very highest level, because he has a body and a makeup that he had never seen before,” Lester said. “That stuck with me. When Andre speaks, I think most people listen. And here we are, not too far off that, maybe a couple of years away from it. So part of me is not surprised.
“But I think there is a small part of me that maybe is. Am I surprised that Novak at 38 is still in the mix with these guys? Probably not. Honestly, no. Clearly time is in the essence. He knows that. We all know that.”
When Djokovic and Alcaraz first met in Madrid more than three years ago, it was the Spaniard’s moment to step into the sun. Alcaraz beat Rafael Nadal and Djokovic in back-to-back days, taking a gruelling three hours and 36 minutes to upset the Serbian.
“Probably it’s one of the best days of my career, of my life, without doubts,” Alcaraz said.
Little did the tennis world know that four months later he would become the youngest No. 1 player in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings. Alcaraz then showed that he would be more than just a challenger for Djokovic when he beat the Serbian in back-to-back Wimbledon finals in 2023 and 2024.
It was not until last year’s Paris Olympics that Djokovic struck back, claiming the final trophy missing from his collection. Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have risen to the top of the sport, winning seven consecutive majors between them.
Suddenly Djokovic, who owns the record for weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings with 428, is the hunter rather than the hunted. Alcaraz plays dazzling all-court tennis that the 100-time tour-level titlist needs to rise to rather than the other way around.
But as Djokovic showed at this year’s Australian Open, he is hungry to do just that against his younger rivals. The 38-year-old could need to oust both Alcaraz and Sinner for the US Open title.
“Everybody is probably expecting and anticipating the final between [the] two of them,” Djokovic said. “I’m going to try to, you know, mess up the plans of most of the people.”
Djokovic might be 38, but he has not played like it. Only Sinner has defeated him in a completed match at a major this season, doing so twice. The 24-time major champion retired after a set in the Australian Open semi-finals to Alexander Zverev.
“I think he has been overtaken by two players that have possibly raised the bar again when we didn’t think that was necessarily possible,” Lester said of Sinner and Alcaraz. “But I think in terms of the age gap and the significance of the age gap, it is remarkable, undoubtedly. There’s a part of me that thinks that Novak is still driven as well now at this age by these two guys, and I think we saw that in his press conference afterwards.
“There was that little bit of an edge of ‘Don’t forget me’ still. And I know he’s done everything and I know he’s ticked every box in the sport largely. But I think these two guys now maybe are even giving him that last bit of fuel, possibly in the sport to get after it.”
Djokovic has another chance to show why he is still very much the present Friday inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
