We are here to celebrate, of course, that transcendent five-setter, where Jannik Sinner held match point before being undone by Carlos Alcaraz, where both players asserted themselves as the premier talents of their generation, where they produced dozens of rallies that defied lay understanding of what was possible in the sport, where they advanced the societal relevance and physical limits of tennis itself. Oh, not that one. I meant the other one.

Yes, I’m talking about the predecessor: the 2022 US Open quarterfinal, between a 21-year-old Sinner and 19-year-old Alcaraz. When the match concluded at 2:50 a.m, I felt I’d caught an illicit, long-awaited glimpse of the ATP beyond the “Big Three” era. Back then these two were still primordial goo. Alcaraz had won bigger titles. Sinner had been a top player for a little longer. But there was still so much to prove. Neither one had yet reached world No. 1, won a Slam, beaten Novak Djokovic in a best-of-five, or even really figured out his own serve.

All those facts enhanced the spectacle. I am increasingly convinced that the best matches are those between nondominant servers who move beautifully. And at the time I was certain I had never seen kids so noodly in physique covering the court with such violence and flair. Without serves to win free points, both players had to deploy their ground strokes in inventive ways in order to gain any advantage in the rally. I am also convinced that the best matches are played between players who are learning, in real time, that they can do preternatural things. When Sinner slides into a screaming open-stance backhand, or Alcaraz leaps into the air for a behind-the-back passing shot, I see them writing their own styles into being.

Their rivalry was then in a state of naivete. It was just the fourth time these two had met on the pro level. You could see them noticing and adjusting to the other’s moves—say, sneaking over to a new return position to counter a wide service position, or reading the drop shot better and better. There was still mystery between them then. Now their knowledge of each other seems nearly total. By their own admission, they spend weeks of their lives on the practice court, studying, specifically, how to beat each other.

Thankfully this hasn’t made their tennis any less enthralling. In 2025 they completed a trilogy of Sincaraz Slam finals. It began on the clay of Roland-Garros, with a match that mirrored the dizzying level and scope of this one. If the 2022 US Open was an omen of greatness, then the 2025 Roland-Garros was the fulfillment of that promise, the formal pronouncement of a new era in men’s tennis. By that time they were stronger, wiser, more technically sound, playing for even higher stakes. A few weeks after that match in Paris, still feeling its reverberations, I found myself on a familiar years-old highlight reel, looking back, once more, to a past made richer by the future now visible. —Giri Nathan