The disruptor: Can Bublik break up the Big Two?

Is it finally time to break up the ‘Sincaraz’ rivalry?

The pair have dominated the 2025 ATP Tour, trading first and second ranking and clashing at each Grand Slam final – Wimbledon, Roland Garros, US Open – leaving just the Australian Open as an unanswered question: will we be left with another Jannik Sinner v Carlos Alcaraz Grand Slam showdown?

MORE: All the results from AO 2026

Who could be the spanner in the works of what seems to be a likely Sinner and Alcaraz final? Queue in tennis’s greatest showman, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.

"We know there's some players in great form ... Bublik – who knows what he can bring on a given day?” said Australian commentator and former player Wally Masur ahead of the AO 2026 main draw. “He's a very, very dangerous player.”

It was a mere 10 months ago that charismatic, unpredictable Bublik was drifting in the lower echelons of the world’s top 100. It was the first time since 2023 he had slipped outside the top 50. Fast forward to the 2026 season and a rise up the ranks to crack the top 10 that is nothing short of extraordinary.

At Roland Garros 2025, Bublik started the steady climb back towards the top 50 before a meeting with then-world No.1 Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals, from whom he took just six games.

Rather than wallowing in the loss, it seemed to have sparked a fire in the Kazakhstani, who vowed to break into the top 10. Just weeks later in Halle, Bublik and Sinner once again faced each other across the net in the second round – but this time, something had changed. Bublik recovered from a set down to stun the world’s top player with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 scoreline, before advancing all the way to the title with a message for the world: he was back.

"If I consider the players who really troubled the Big Four, it was [Stan] Wawrinka and Nick [Kyrgios],” Masur said. “So, players with awesome power, but also a little bit abrasive. Just not fearing reputation. And I think that's what it's going to take – awesome power and somebody who doesn't fear reputation.”

Since winning the Halle title, Bublik has won 26 of 33 ATP matches, and collected titles in Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and Hangzhou – the latter tipping the 28-year-old into that coveted top 10 bracket.

Bublik now stands with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz as the only men this decade to win titles on all surfaces (clay, grass and hardcourts) in a single season.

Throughout his 2026 season, he remains undefeated. His Australian Open 2026 run has been equal parts entertaining and remarkable; incredible tennis and an almost untouchable service game made all the more watchable alongside superb trick shots, cheeky antics, and a showmanship that translates to his unquestionable joy in the game.

Prior to the commencement of AO 2026, Masur also pondered on what, as well as who, it would take for someone to break up the Sinner and Alcaraz rivalry. “I just think playing good, solid, standard tennis, I just don't think it's going to get the job done over five [sets],” he said.

"Somebody like a Bublik, who is enigmatic [could rattle them],” he added “But it will take quite a serving display too.”

Bublik’s serve has undergone a makeover, and it’s been a strong factor in his rise up the rankings. In his first-round match against USA’s Jenson Brooksby he delivered his opponent 13 aces and won 74 per cent of his first serve points. In the next round, he took 76 per cent of his serve points against Marton Fucsovics.

But in the third round of AO 2026 Bublik took things to a new level, defeating Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in straight sets 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 6-4 after sending down 20 aces and winning 90 per cent of his first serve points, plus 58 winners.

Bublik moves into the fourth round to face Australia’s top player, world No.6 Alex de Minaur. If he continues his 2026 unbeaten run, the world may finally get a sense of whether Bublik is going to be the disruptor to the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry, with a potential quarterfinal clash with the Spaniard himself on the horizon.

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