NEW YORK – Three years after winning his first major title and becoming the youngest player in history, Carlos Alcaraz has regained the peak of the sport with another victory at the US Open.
On Sunday, he faced Alcaraz rival Jannik Sinner, the Spanish-born third straight major final, taking advantage of his strong forehand, constantly improving serve and electro-athletic ability in a relatively quick 2-hour, 42 minutes 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory. In doing so, he regained the world’s top rankings from the sinner after 65 weeks of running, extending his head-to-head record to 10-5 than the Italian players.
After Alcaraz secured the victory with an ace at his third championship point, he threw his hand into the air over his head before a trademark smile snipped his face and he went to his knees. A few seconds later, he was holding the sinner online, and the two had a friendly relationship – arms around each other while they walked from the court.
“For me, achieving one more (the number one ranking) and that’s a dream,” Alcaraz later told reporters. “Doing it on the same day as getting another Grand Slam makes me feel even better. It’s everything I work for and I’m really happy to be able to live through these experiences.”
Playing in front of dozens of A-list celebrities and 24,000 fans, including President Donald Trump, Alcaraz took control from the start, beating the sinners in the opening game and dominated most of the match. It marked the sixth slam title of his career, and at just 22 years old he became the second youngest man to reach the milestone.
Alkaraz, who previously won two Wimbledon and the French Open, joined Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Matt Willander as the only men to win multiple major titles on all three surfaces.
Alcaraz won Sunday’s match with compelling fashion, but the duo have collectively dominated the tour for the past two seasons. Alcaraz and Sinner are paired to win all eight major titles in 2024 and 2025, each winning four. Their rivalry officially emerged in the quarterfinals of the marathon at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2022, but remained the latest finish in tournament history (2:50am), but the pair met for the first time at the French Open in June.
After losing the first two sets in Paris, Alcaraz fought back to win in five sets that define rivals in the classics, including multiple tiebreaks, including deciders, lasting five hours and 29 minutes. The sinner then abdicated two-time defending champion Alcaraz at Wimbledon, avoiding the easier 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, and 6-4, and the bounty was returned.
When they ran again on Sunday, the first meeting in the US since their memorable encounter in 2022, they undoubtedly walked the courtroom as the most dominant men in tennis. For the first time in history, two men played each other in three consecutive slam finals within a season, and it was the first time in the sport since Venus and Serena Williams went in 2002.
“I see you more than my family,” Alkaraz jokingly said, turning to the sinner during the trophy ceremony. “It’s great to share locker rooms and more.”
In the post-match rankings, only 760 points separate Alkaraz and the sinner, but now there is a 4,850 point gap between the sinner and the rest of the field.
Defending champion Thinner arrived in New York as a favorite in his 21 consecutive wins in the hard court majors, winning three previous slams. However, in the final lead-in tournament ahead of the US Open, he had to retire from the Cincinnati Open Finals with Alcaraz after only five games due to a viral illness. He also dealt with abdominal muscle injury during his semi-final match against Felix Auger Aliasim on Friday.
However, Alcaraz had no such struggle throughout the two weeks. In fact, he became the first man since Roger Federer 10 years ago to reach the final without dropping a set, dropping a total of two service games for the championship match. He closed the tournament with 98 out of 101 service games.
Thinner said Alcaraz has improved significantly since his match at Wimbledon.
“I felt he was a little cleaner today,” Sinner said. “You know, I know I did well in London. He’s got better today. He felt like he’s doing everything a little better today.
“When he had to, he leveled himself up, so yeah, I’m still proud of myself, about the seasons I play and make.
The sinner was critical of his own performance, calling himself “very predictable” in the match. He said he plans to make some changes to make him more competitive in the future, in order to become “a little more unpredictable” and become his serve “just a little thing.”
Alkaraz destroyed the criminal five times in the match. He won the opening set in just 37 minutes, but to the surprise of the crowd – the sinner found a way to deal with the second set by increasingly targeting Alkaraz’s backhand. It was temporarily effective, leveling out the matches in a set of one, but from there it was all Alkaraz.
Ultimately, Alkaraz scored 42 winners for 21 people in Thinner, and he led almost every statistical category. He not only had two in the case of the sinner, but there were no doubles faults, but the sinner had no four faults. Alcaraz coach Juan Carlos Ferrero said he and Alcaraz studied the finals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon and knew what they wanted to do differently against the sinners on Sunday, but he did not reveal any specific insights.
“I think you’ll prepare the match very well, watch the match and see the specific details we have to play,” Ferrero said after the match. “Carlos did 100%. It’s easy to say, and it’s very difficult to do. Today’s performance was perfect.”
Alcaraz was excited about Ferrero’s comments, especially when he was told about the use of the word “perfect.” He added that he believes it is the best tournament he has ever played.
“It’s been the best tournament so far since the first round before the end of the tournament,” Alcaraz said. “My level of consistency throughout the tournament is really, really high, and that’s what I’ve been working on and I’m really proud of it because I’m really consistent.
The start of the final was delayed by 30 minutes due to enhanced security measures for Trump’s attendance. Even with the extra time, many fans weren’t in the seats at first. The stadium didn’t seem full until the second set. The sinner later told reporters that neither the delay nor the initial absence of the capacity crowd affected him during the match.
“They told us in a huge amount (by hand) that the match would start at 2:30, so we didn’t warm up twice,” Thinner said. “It was all fine.”
Trump, originally from New York, was a guest at the Rolex Corporate Suite. He became the first sitting president to attend an event since Bill Clinton in 2000. He was shown twice on a video board during the match.
