In the aftermath of Carlos Alcaraz winning his first French Open , there has been much discussion about what to call his achievement in becoming the first man in the Open era to win his first three Majors on the sport’s three different surfaces: hardcourt, grass and clay. “The Surface Slam” has been suggested, but perhaps tennis can borrow a term from rugby union and call it “The Triple Crown,” the phrase used in the Six Nations tournament to describe any one of England, Scotland, Wales, or Ireland beating all the other British and Irish teams. It is fitting because the Triple Crown is usually regarded as the precursor to the Grand Slam itself (one team beating all the other five nations in the tournament), and Alcaraz seems set to achieve the Grand Slam in tennis by winning the Australian Open before too long.
The Triple Crown is also a fitting description of Alcaraz’s achievement because it is a testament to the all-around nature of his game, such that he looks almost equally at ease on clay, grass, or hardcourt. Indeed, the Spanish prodigy has already been described as potentially the most complete tennis player the world has ever seen—one without any significant weaknesses in his game. In part, that is surely the legacy of his emerging at the end of The Big Three era and somehow embodying the best of each individual member of The Big Three: volleying like Federer, baselining like Nadal, and defending like Djokovic.
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