If you follow tennis at all you will know that Carlos Alcaraz is a 21-year-old professional tennis player from Spain. You might have seen him win the French Open yesterday, beating Alexander Zverev over five sets to become the first player to win his first three Grand Slam tournaments on different surfaces. The French Open is played on clay. At the end of the match Alcaraz lay down on the court, on his back, making a right mess of his kit.

Last year he won Wimbledon, the only tennis Grand Slam still played on grass. He beat Novak Djokovic over five sets in the final. In 2022 he won the US Open, played on a hard court. I missed that one. If he wins the Australian Open (also a hard court tournament) he will complete the career Grand Slam.

His wins at Wimbledon last year and in Paris yesterday were impeccably timed. I wanted to leave the house at 6.40pm yesterday evening and he wrapped things up by 6.35pm UK time. I thought that I might have to listen the end of the game on the radio while driving, but was able to watch it on Eurosport instead.

Last summer, on the day of the Wimbledon Men’s Final, we were booked to see a 6pm performance of the musical “Six” at the Vaudeville Theatre. Alcaraz hit the winning shot about a minute before show time. We were able to watch the closing minutes of the match on a mobile phone, in the theatre foyer.

Over the years I have reflected on tennis Grand Slams more than once, starting with this piece from 2018. At the time the men’s game was dominated by three players: Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. That dominance continued until this year. Between them they have won 66 Grand Slam singles titles. Here’s an example of how of how dominant they have been over the last two decades: yesterday’s French Open Final was the first for 20 years not to feature any of them. In 2004 two Argentine men reached the final. Gastón Gaudio beat Guillermo Coria to win the tournament. Since then every final, until yesterday, featured Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, or two of them. In that time Nadal won the title 14 times, Federer once and Djokovic three times. Nadal won every year between 2005 and 2022 apart from: 2009 (Federer), 2015 (Stan Wawrinka, beating Djokovic in the final), 2016 (Djokovic), 2021 (Djokovic). In 2023 Djokovic beat Casper Ruud in the final for his third French title.

Another sign of the dominance of Federer-Nadal-Djokovic is that, until yesterday, there had only been one occasion since 2003 when two successive Grand Slams were won by people from outside that trio. In 2016 Andy Murray won Wimbledon and Stan Wawrinka won the US Open. Alcaraz’s victory yesterday follows on from Jannik Sinner’s win at the Australian Open at the start of the year.

It looks likely that next month’s Wimbledon will also be won from someone from outside that all-conquering trio. Djokovic withdrew from the French Open because of injury and is recovering from knee surgery. Federer has retired and it looks like Nadal might skip Wimbledon to concentrate on competing at the Olympics even if he has recovered from the injury that prevented him from playing in the French Open. The Games begin in Paris at the end of next month, with the tennis scheduled to start on 27 July.

If Alcaraz wins Wimbledon again next month he will be the first player from outside the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic trio to win back-to-back Grand Slams since 1995. That year Pete Sampras followed his Wimbledon win (the third of seven) with victory at the US Open. I hope Alcaraz does it. I’m a fan.