What Happened the Last Time the Same Two Met in Four Straight Grand Slam Finals?

The tennis year of 2025 has been dominated by two men, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The recent US Open final culminated with the sport's two newest superstars facing off for the third straight Grand Slam final, and on this occasion, the Spaniard managed to get his revenge.

Alcaraz began the pair's series in perfect fashion. He rallied to overturn a two-set deficit in the French Open final, saving three championship points in the process to pull off one of the all-time great comeback victories and defend his Roland Garros title. He then headed to the All-England Club in a bid to claim his third straight Wimbledon crown, but this time around, Sinner had other ideas. The Italian dominated en route to a 3-1 victory and claimed his first Slam title away from hard courts.

In the Big Apple, it was Sinner who was the defending champion. However, Alcaraz played like a man possessed, determined to make up for that Wimbledon disappointment. Ultimately, he simply wouldn't be stopped, winning in four sets and taking the lead in his trifecta series against Sinner and rubber-stamping his status as the best player on the planet.

Online betting sites certainly feel that the rivalry isn't about to come to an end anytime soon. Websites offering betting online in Canada currently have Sinner and Alcaraz listed at the top of next January's Australian Open betting charts. They make the former a narrow 6/4 betting favorite courtesy of his triumphs in each of the last two years Down Under, with Alcaraz just behind at 7/4.

Should the pair face off in a fourth straight Grand Slam final, they would match a record set by the two GOAT contenders, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Back in 2010 and 2011, the two icons faced off in an unprecedented four straight Slam finals. But what happened in each of them? Let's find out.

Novak Djokovic entered the 2011 Wimbledon final in the midst of a 43-match unbeaten run, an almost mythical assertion of dominance. The Serbian had two Slam titles under his belt, but had never reigned supreme at the All-England Club. Waiting across the net was Nadal, the reigning champion, 10-time major winner, and peerless superstar on the big occasions.

The opening set was a war of attrition and nerve. Djokovic, unfazed by a crowd awash with Spanish flags, delivered 62 percent first serves, ripped 27 winners, and broke Nadal's serve late to claim the set 6-4. Instantly, the dynamic shifted: the Serbian, famed for relentless defense, was now dictating tempo and daring Nadal to chase.

Nole rattled off a 6-1 drubbing in the second set, racing into a 2-0 lead in just 32 minutes, making even Nadal look ordinary. But electrifying matches hinged on resistance, and the reigning champ seized back momentum, bulldozing to 6-1 in the third with a blend of his patented topspin and raw fury. Was the old order restoring itself?

Not this time. Djokovic, eyes cold as steel, hammered returns and absorbed pressure throughout the crucial early games of the fourth. Nadal erred just enough. Djokovic pounced, 6-3, and with one last smash of his racquet, became Wimbledon champion for the first time and the world’s new number one in the process.

Two months after Wimbledon, Djokovic and Nadal marched to the Big Apple to face off again, their rivalry now the sport’s blazing epicenter. The stakes: the world number one, chasing a third Slam of the year and validation as the game’s alpha; Nadal, hunting retribution.

Djokovic made the early headlines—pounding groundstrokes, trademark defense, and a first set won 6-2 behind an 82-percent first-serve. Nadal fought tooth and nail in the second, stretching points into 30-shot marathons, but Djokovic edged it 6-4, his consistency on big points impossible to overlook.

If you wanted heart, the third set delivered. Nadal, battered yet unbowed, staved off break points and banged home a handful of signature forehands to pull out a tiebreak—winning it 7-6(3). The crowd was whipped into a frenzy. Yet Djokovic’s indomitability was absolute: resetting mentally, he uncorked 13 winners in the fourth to rampage through a 6-1 clincher. Two Slam finals, two Nole victories.

The 2012 Australian Open final wasn't just tennis; it was theater of the absurd: 5 hours, 53 minutes. The longest Grand Slam final ever.

Nadal edged the opener 7-5, his looping forehand constantly forcing Djokovic to hit that one extra ball. The Serbian would not crack; he rattled off the next two sets 6-4, 6-2, pivoting between anchoring rallies on his backhand and slinging ice-cold passing shots. By the fourth, Djokovic looked ascendant—but Nadal has a memory for suffering. He summoned reserves only he possesses, stealing a tiebreak 7-6(5).

The final act was an emotional earthquake. Each break, each game, each winner sent new ripples through the crowd. Djokovic, gassed but lionhearted, broke at 5-all in the fifth and sealed the epic, arms stretched in triumph and disbelief. Sixty-seven winners apiece. Nineteen break points saved by Nadal. The stat sheet was almost a novella. And as the sun set, a new tennis archetype was born: the Grand Slam final as endurance pièce de résistance.

Paris, June 2012. Clouds hung low over Roland Garros, shadowing Djokovic’s quest for the “Nole Slam”: a chance to hold all four majors at once, a feat not seen since Rod Laver. In the locker room, Nadal—the clay court god with a preposterous 51-1 record in the City of Lights—prepared for the final chapter.

The match began in familiar Nadalian fashion: sweeping the first two sets 6-4, 6-3, mixing sky-high bounce with surgical accuracy. Djokovic’s forehand sprayed errors, but his refusal to fade was emblematic—he wrested the third set 6-2 just before the clouds burst and play was abandoned for the day.

Overnight, a city and a sport held its breath. Momentum is a fragile thing. By Monday afternoon, the tension was Venetian in its weight. But as so often in Paris, Nadal found clarity where others saw only fog. The fourth set bristled to 7-5, Nadal’s will outlasting Djokovic’s ambition. Seven French Opens. Seventy-seven winners in the tournament. Even Djokovic’s supporters tipped their caps: the king’s red clay reign remained unbroken.