Jannik Sinner draped his left arm and his racket around Carlos Alcaraz’s neck. Alcaraz then put his right arm on Sinner\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n
The friendly greeting between the two players after the latest in a series of high-stakes matches was a fitting image for the year in men\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n
Sinner and Alcaraz are dominating the game and their levels are so close that they keep alternating who wins the biggest titles.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz beat Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the French Open final; Sinner got revenge at Wimbledon; Alcaraz won again at the U.S. Open; and then Sinner defended his ATP Finals title before his home fans in Turin on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz sealed the year-ending No. 1 ranking, while No. 2 Sinner goes into the offseason coming off a confidence-boosting victory over his rival.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe facts are they\u2019re a level above everyone,\u201d said Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was beaten by both Sinner (in the group stage) and Alcaraz (in the semifinals) at the season-ending event for the top eight players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ranking doesn\u2019t lie. They\u2019re the two best players. That\u2019s the facts. Different game styles, but both put extreme pressure on their opponent in different ways,\u201d added Auger-Aliassime, who ends the year at a career-high No. 5. \u201cThey keep showing up and playing good, so credit to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, left, and winner Italy’s Jannik Sinner stand on the podium after the final tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. Credit: AP\/Antonio Calanni<\/p>\n
Added ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, \u201cThese two guys are really incredible for our sport, both on and off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the most-watched tennis match in Italian TV history with 7 million viewers, according to numbers released by the national ratings service Monday.<\/p>\n
Sinner overcame his doping ban<\/p>\n
Sinner, who also won the Australian Open, reached the final of all four Grand Slams and the finals \u2014 despite missing three months near the start of the year after settling a doping case.<\/p>\n
Like in 2024, Sinner didn\u2019t drop a set at finals \u2014 becoming the first player in the event\u2019s history to achieve that feat in two different years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Italy’s Jannik Sinner, left, and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz hug after the final tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. Credit: AP\/Antonio Calanni<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel to be a better player than last year,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cAll the losses I had, I tried to see the positive thing and trying to evolve me as a player. I felt like this happened in a very good way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alcaraz improved indoors<\/p>\n
Alcaraz acknowledged a year ago when he won only one match during the group stage at finals that he still had to learn how to play indoors.<\/p>\n
Well, consider him adept at the surface now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t doubt about playing and fighting toe-to-toe with Jannik on indoor court,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure that it\u2019s going to keep growing up, my level on indoor court.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinner\u2019s super 2nd serve<\/p>\n
After the loss to Alcaraz at the U.S. Open, Sinner said he wanted to improve his serve and the results were evident in Turin where he dropped his serve only once \u2014 in the opening game of the second set against Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s actually pumped up the miles per hour and he is getting the ball closer to the line, which means he gets a lot more free points,\u201d Darren Cahill, one of Sinner\u2019s coaches, said of the Italian’s first serve.<\/p>\n
There was also a big 187 kph (116 mph) second serve from Sinner that helped him save a set point against Alcaraz late in the second set.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had already served two or three second serves in the same way (in that game) and I kept on losing the point. So I had to come up with something different. I decided for the riskiest option,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cSometimes you need a bit of courage and some luck. I would rather lose that point then have him win it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Alcaraz, \u201cThat surprised me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auger-Aliassime on the rise<\/p>\n
Auger-Aliassime also reached the U.S. Open semifinals in September, and his ranking rocketed up from No. 30 midway through the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always believed, since I\u2019m a kid believed, and my ambition was to win Grand Slams and be No. 1 in the world,\u201d the Canadian said. \u201cNow it\u2019s a matter of doing the right things to improve. If I do, we\u2019ll see where that leaves me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 25, Auger-Aliassime is older than both Sinner (24) and Alcaraz (22).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want (Sinner) to be playing his best tennis when he\u2019s 28, 29, 30 years of age,\u201d Cahill said. \u201cHopefully we\u2019re setting the plan and platform for him to be able to do that in a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alcaraz playing Davis Cup<\/p>\n
While Alcaraz was heading to Bologna to represent Spain in the Davis Cup finals this week, Sinner was starting his offseason and already focusing on 2026.<\/p>\n
Sinner will be the two-time defending champion at the Australian Open and then will attempt to win the French Open for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cClay is going to be a big target for us next year,\u201d Cahill said. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep working on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Andrew Dampf is at https:\/\/x.com\/AndrewDampf <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jannik Sinner draped his left arm and his racket around Carlos Alcaraz’s neck. Alcaraz then put his right…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593,3851],"class_list":{"0":"post-288860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-wires-bot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}