Jannik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 7-5 and wins the ATP Finals in Turin for the second consecutive year
It doesn’t matter if the ranking says that Alcaraz is number one and Sinner is number two: tonight Jannik proved that he is number one in the world, at least on indoor surfaces. An epochal triumph, because it comes against the rival of rivals, Carlos Alcaraz, after a season which saw the two phenomena dominate world tennis. Italian tennis is enjoying a historic moment: we have never had a player capable of winning four Slams, a champion of the Finals twice consecutively, a world number one. Now we have Sinner.
The final, the sixth match of the season between the two after the 2-1 in favor of Alcaraz in the Slams and the overall result clearly in favor of the Spaniard (10-5), lived up to expectations. A duel of the highest quality that ended 7-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 14 minutes. Jannik triumphs without losing a set in the entire tournament and conceding only one break in five games. Furthermore, he reaches 31 consecutive indoor victories: he hasn’t lost in these conditions since 2023, again at the Pala Alpitour, against Novak Djokovic.
The match
The match is very balanced since the first game. At 2-2 comes the first thrill for Sinner, who from 30-0 misses two forehands and commits a double fault. An illness in the stands interrupts the game for about ten minutes. Upon returning, Jannik is very cold, scores a volley and an ace and avoids the break. In the first set, Jannik serves great in key moments. At 5-4 in favor of Alcaraz, the Spaniard takes a medical time-out to have his right thigh massaged and shortly after builds a set point with a drop shot and attack at the net. Here comes the blue’s masterpiece: a second at 187 km/h cancels the set ball, then a forehand serve and a first winner. In the tie-break the South Tyrolean is perfect and finishes 7-4 (it is the 16th tie-break won out of 19 in 2025).
Alcaraz recovers immediately and starts very strong in the second: break and 3-1, thanks to Sinner’s poor service performance. The ghosts of the US Open seem to resurface — there too Jannik had collapsed after a drop at bat, with less than 50% of firsts — but this time the story changes. At 3-2 Sinner creates his first break point of the match and transforms it with a surgical break. The danger of a counterbreak also escaped in the following round, when Carlos missed the forehand attack. In short, the game returns to balance. At 6-5 comes the final sprint: a backhand down the line that cancels out the possible 6-6, then a sublime passer and the match point. And here, in a very hard exchange, the Spaniard goes off the diagonal, making a mistake with his backhand. AND The tricolor flag is flying again in the sky of Turin.
Defeating Alcaraz was fundamental for Sinner, especially from a mental point of view. Having lost six of the last seven matches, yet another defeat could have created a stumbling block for Jannik, as it had for Roger Federer when facing Rafael Nadal. And yet, no bête noire. Just a great rival, a very champion, but beatable. The only flaw is the low percentage of first ballswithout which the partial would probably have been more severe for Carlos Alcaraz. But this is not the time to fret, the performance was masterful and the victory more than deserved.
The loneliness of number one
The beauty of this rivalry is also their friendship, as demonstrated by the interview given to CNN and as demonstrated by the post-match words of Alcaraz this evening: «I’m happy with the level I had, I played against Sinner who hasn’t lost at indoor level for two years. He deserved it with his team, every time he loses a match he comes back stronger. It’s been a great year, now it’s time for you to rest, so should I.” Also the response of Jannik shows the esteem and feeling with the opponent: «You played an incredible season, congratulations to you and the team. You got big trophies, big victories and then also the number one in the world, which you deserved. Congratulations on the level you have reached, we’ll see each other again next year for more battles together. Now you can rest too.”
There is a novel whose title would seem to explain how a tennis number one can feel. And it is Paolo Giordano’s bestseller «The solitude of prime numbers». Only in this case neither Sinner nor Alcaraz are alonebecause they compete for the Olympus of tennis, alternating as if in a relay race. Once one wins, once the other, it’s always the two of them who challenge each other in the end. They keep each other company as numbers one (they both are), and therefore cannot feel alone.
