Wimbledon 2024: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are taking over tennis

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — There is a real shift happening at the top of tennis, a youth movement that long seemed inevitable but never actually arrived until now.

As the sport's attention shifts to the grass of Wimbledon, where play begins Monday, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff are the players whose names are on everyone’s lips.

Alcaraz is the defending men's champion and owner of three Grand Slam titles at the age of 21 after his triumph at the French Open. Sinner, 22, is the top-seeded man at Wimbledon and won the Australian Open in January. Swiatek, 23, is the top-seeded woman and just earned her fourth championship at Roland Garros and fifth major overall. Gauff, the youngest of the bunch at 20, is ranked a career-best No. 2, has reached at least the semifinals at the past three Slam tournaments and won her first such trophy at last year's U.S. Open.

While Swiatek has entrenched herself at No. 1 in the women's game, and is now 11-1 against Gauff, neither has been past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, and there is a much more closely contested and intriguing rivalry developing between Alcaraz and Sinner ( Alcaraz leads 5-4 after winning their semifinal at the French Open in five sets). Then there's this: For so long, people wondered when the men's game would evolve from the extended dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, owners of a combined 66 majors, and that trio would cede space to others.

That time, it seems, is now — and Alcaraz and Sinner are beginning to separate themselves from the rest.

“These two guys will win many, many Grand Slams. How many? That's the question. Of course, they will be the best for 10 years, I imagine — Alcaraz and Sinner. I have no doubt about it,” said Richard Gasquet, a three-time major semifinalist, including twice at Wimbledon. “They will be the future of the game. ... The new generation is coming.”

Gasquet, a 38-year-old Frenchman who got to No. 7 in the rankings, knows all too well the difficulties of being a professional tennis player during the era of the so-called Big Three of men's tennis. The opponents in his three losses in Grand Slam semifinals? Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, once each.

But Federer, now 42, played the last match of his 20-Slam-trophy career in 2021. Nadal, 38, lost in the first round at the French Open — where he claimed 14 of his 22 major championships — and then opted to miss Wimbledon so he could focus on preparing for the Paris Olympics that start in late July; he has dealt with a string of injuries that included a hip operation last year.

And Djokovic? The owner of a men's-record 24 Grand Slam titles needed to pull out of the French Open before the quarterfinals after tearing the meniscus in his right knee and having surgery. As of Thursday, he still was gauging whether his knee had healed enough for him to compete at the All England Club, where his streak of four consecutive trophies ended last year in a five-set loss to Alcaraz in the final.

Sinner was eliminated by Djokovic at Wimbledon each of the past two years, in the 2022 quarterfinals and 2023 semifinals. But Sinner won their two most recent matchups, at last year’s Davis Cup Finals and in this year’s Australian Open semifinals.

Both Alcaraz and Sinner excel at court coverage and big hitting. Both bring excitement, too, whether it's Alcaraz's creative shot-making or Sinner's all-out dives along the way to his first career grass-court title at Halle, Germany, in June, a rare instance of a man winning his first tournament after making his debut at No. 1.

“No one has ever played like Alcaraz. No chance. And Sinner? The same thing,” said Mats Wilander, a seven-time Slam champ in the 1980s. “They’re like, ‘Whoa! What and where did they come from?’”

Alcaraz and Sinner realize they are well-positioned to take over.

They're also aware that they've only just started down a path to possible greatness.

“We have to see what we do from now on,” Sinner said, "(and) do it year after year after year after year.”

Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

FILE - Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates with the trophy after beating Serbia's Novak Djokovic to win the final of the men's singles on day fourteen of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Sunday, July 16, 2023. This year's Wimbledon tournament begins on Monday, July 1.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File

Novak Djokovic during a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon ahead of the Wimbledon Championships, which begins on July 1st, on Tuesday June 25, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)

FILE - Play takes place on the outside courts on day four of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 6, 2023. This year's Wimbledon tournament begins on Monday, July 1.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

Italy's Jannik Sinner practices at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon ahead of the Wimbledon Championships, scheduled to begin on July, Wednesday June 26, 2024. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz practises at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, ahead of the Wimbledon Championships, which begin on July 1st, in London, Thursday June 27, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)

FILE - Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, left, talks with Jannik Sinner, of Italy, after defeating him in a semifinal match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Indian Wells, Calif. Alcaraz is the defending champion and Sinner is the top-seeded man at Wimbledon, where play begins on Monday, July 1.(AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on July 1, many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler.

Orbán in recent years has seemed to relish opportunities to block, water down or delay key EU decisions, routinely going against the grain of most other leaders on issues like the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and China, and efforts to defend democracy and the rule of law.

His public opposition to EU policies and stances has long frustrated his partners in the bloc and pushed him to the margins of the continent's mainstream. Hungary's motto for its presidency — Make Europe Great Again — raised eyebrows for its resemblance to the famous tagline of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The EU presidency rotates among its member countries, and while the post holds little real power, it does allow countries to put their priorities high on Europe’s agenda.

Now, as Hungary resides over the 27-nation bloc for the coming six months, it will likely keep up its anti-EU rhetoric, said Dorka Takácsy, a research fellow at the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy.

But the timeline of its presidency — beginning with a lengthy summer break and a transitional period of forming a new European Parliament and executive commission — will give Budapest few opportunities to derail the bloc’s priorities significantly, she said.

"These six months are altogether not that long, which means that ... Hungary cannot do potentially much harm, even according to the critics," Takácsy said.

As Hungary's takeover approached, leaders in Brussels rushed to push through important policy decisions while Belgium was still at the helm. On Tuesday, for example, the EU launched membership talks with candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova.

Orbán has vocally opposed and threatened to block Ukraine's candidacy. His government has also held up EU efforts to supply Ukraine with badly needed funding.

Yet with Ukraine's accession process already initiated, Takácsy said, the most Hungary can do now under its presidency is delay further steps toward its EU membership, a process that in any scenario is likely to take many years.

“All the meaningful steps from the European side regarding Ukraine were already done," she said. “(A Hungarian) delay, according to most European leaders, is already calculated and being taken into consideration as if it’s something which is most likely going to happen.”

Orbán has long been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and violating the EU's standards on the rule of law, leading the bloc's legislature in May to call for the presidency to be taken out of Hungary's hands entirely.

In a resolution, the EU parliament argued that democratic deficiencies raised questions of “how Hungary will be able to credibly fulfill this task in 2024.” Two years ago, the European Commission froze billions of euros in funds to Budapest over concerns about democratic backsliding by the government.

But some Hungarian officials have stressed that they plan to act constructively during their presidency. Last week, Hungarian minister for EU affairs János Bóka told reporters that “we will be honest brokers, working loyally with all Member States and institutions.”

“Carrying out the functions of the presidency is our obligation, but we see it primarily as an opportunity," Bóka said. “At the beginning of the new institutional cycle, we can initiate a debate and set the agenda on issues that are important to us.”

Among the issues that Hungary has prioritized in its seven-point program is the enlargement of the EU in the Western Balkans for countries like Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania through a “merit-based” procedure.

Budapest has also vowed to strengthen the EU's external borders and step up against illegal immigration, and to address “demographic challenges” that involve an aging population in Europe — two priorities that reflect Orbán's image as a staunch opponent of immigration and defender of family values.

But after years of campaigns portraying the EU as forcing unwanted policies on Hungary — Orbán has repeatedly compared membership in the bloc to more than four decades of Soviet occupation of his country — he may find it difficult to restore goodwill among his EU partners.

“The Hungarian government has been using the image of Brussels as a punching bag,” Takácsy said. “Now it’s somewhat difficult to communicate that for these brief six months, we are basically the Brussels that Hungary is waging war and a freedom fight against.”

With some words of advice for Orbán before Hungary assumes its role, the prime minister of Belgium said the position “does not mean that you are the boss of Europe.”

"The presidency means that you're the one that has to make the compromise,” Alexander De Croo said to reporters in Brussels on Thursday. “Being in the position where you have to make the compromise is an interesting position to be in at least once in your life, so I can definitely recommend it to Mr. Orbán.”

FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

FILE - Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. When Hungary takes over the helm of the European Union on Monday July 1, 2024 many politicians in Brussels will have the same thing on their minds: whether populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will use the role to further his reputation as the bloc’s main spoiler. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)