The most likely player to challenge Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at Grand Slams has been named by Barry Cowan

They have shared the last seven Grand Slam titles amongst one another, and contested the last two major finals too.

However, it’s worth remembering that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal once found themselves in a similar position to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, before Novak Djokovic emerged to upset the party.

Now, speaking exclusively to Tennishead, Cowan has theorised which young stars might follow in his legendary footsteps.

Barry Cowan predicts who can challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Asked about who might be able to upset this rock-solid duopoly at the apex of the men’s sport, Cowan naturally struggled to find an outstanding candidate.

After all, they are by far and away the best players in the world, and nobody looks likely to dispel that notion anytime soon.

Alas, the former professional tennis star did conjure up a few names: “Right now, I don’t see anyone knocking off Djokovic.

“Obviously, he’s obviously not been able to win the last seven majors, because that’s been dominated by Sinner and Alcaraz, but, you know, I’m not ruling Djokovic out, because when you’ve won it 24 times, and he’s made semi-finals at all three majors this year, so, you know, he’s not far off, but, you know, as things stand at the moment, for someone to win a major, the way the rankings are, you might have to get through three of them.

“Now, one of them might lose, so you’ve got to get through two of them, and how gruelling that is, physically and mentally. So I think that the tier below, and obviously we know who they are, I still feel that they’ve got to improve their level.

“Now, the older you get, the harder it is to be able to do, because you’ve almost reached your ceiling. The exciting part for the younger players is that we don’t know what the ceiling could be.

“And Draper is definitely in that. Mensik is definitely in that. Fonseca is definitely in that. There, for me, is an absolute star for the future, but you know, that’s really further down the line.

“In terms of the majors, and that’s where, obviously, the Masters come into play, massively. And the ATP 500, and we’ve got two big tournaments coming up.

“I mean, you know, Toronto is a massive tournament for that next group, because you haven’t got Djokovic, you haven’t got Alcaraz, you haven’t got Sinner. Obviously, Draper’s not available; he’s pulled out through injury.

“So an opportunity knocks for that next tier to get some momentum and win some matches, going into Cincinnati and then obviously the final major of the year.”

He finished by adding American Ben Shelton to the list, outlining his belief that a Grand Slam could certainly be in his future. 

This came after Cowan assessed Emma Raducanu’s chances at the US Open later this summer.

Ben Shelton is knocking on the door at Grand Slams

It’s no secret that Shelton performs best when the pressure is high.

After all, some of his very best tennis seems to emerge across the five-set format that the Grand Slams offer.

In turn, this occasionally can leave the rest of his year wanting, with opportunities to win titles squandered due to a lack of focus, consistency or something else entirely.

But, with a unique, big-serving left-handed game style, he has all the tools to trouble anybody on tour.

Despite having only been around the professional circuit for three years, he has already reached two major semi-finals and another two quarter-finals.

He’s knocking on the door, and sooner or later, it feels like Shelton could break through his glass ceiling and upset Alcaraz and Sinner’s Grand Slam dominance.