Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and the return of a rare No. 1 match dominated by youth | ATP Tour
ATP Tour
The return of Sinner, Alcaraz and a rare first-place race dominated by youth
Rivals’ dominance in the Under-25s makes 2025 one of the rarest of doubles. 1 season in history
November 21, 2025
Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are the only two players to remain No. 1 in the world in 2025.
Jerome Coombe
The 2025 ATP Tour season ended with a rare statistic in the modern era: only 24-year-old Jannik Sinner and 22-year-old Carlos Alcaraz have consistently remained at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
With both players aged under 25 and having each competed in four majors in the sport, this season is a clear sign of a new phase for the ATP No. 1 club. Their year-long dominance made 2025 one of the youngest first-ever doubles seasons in ATP history.
In the context of the past few decades, this distinction has become even clearer. Since the PIF ATP Rankings were launched in 1973, there have only been a handful of seasons where all the top-ranked players have been under the age of 25, and 2025 will come with some of the most impactful generational transitions in the sport.
All No. 1 players in the ATP Tour season under 25 (since 1973)
| Year | Player (age) |
| 1975 | Connors(23) |
| 1976 | Connors(24) |
| 1980 | Borg (24), McEnroe (21) |
| 1984 | Lendl (21), McEnroe (24) |
| 1993 | Messenger(23), Sampras(22) |
| 1994 | Sampras(23) |
| 1995 | Agassi(25), Sampras(24) |
| 2002 | Hewitt(21) |
| 2004 | Federer (23), Roddick (21) |
| 2005 | Federer(24) |
| 2025 | Sinner(24), Alcaraz(22) |
*Ages listed reflect the maximum age each player reached while retaining first place that season
What connects these seasons is how they poignantly highlight moments of transition—times when emerging champions take control of the sport sooner than expected. The 2025 season is fully in line with this pedigree, echoing transitions such as Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe in 1980 or Pete Sampras in the early 1990s.
Comparisons to the Big Three era add necessary perspective. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic created one of the most dramatic and competitive trilogy of Lexus ATP encounters in tennis history, but when they were still young, their rivalry rarely went against each other for first place.
Federer holds the record for consecutive weeks at No. 1 (237 between 2004-08), with Nadal finally breaking through in 2008 when he was 22, and Djokovic taking over in 2011 at age 24 – but their ongoing battle for the top spot didn’t come until after they turned 25.
This is what makes 2025 different. It is statistically rare and historic for two Grand Slam champions to compete for the world No. 1 spot in the same season at the ages of 22 and 24 respectively. The last time this young pair dominated the game together at the top was more than two decades ago in 2004, when 23-year-old Federer and 21-year-old Andy Roddick dominated.
Rivalries like Sinner-Alcaraz historically mark key shifts in the sport. While Borg and McEnroe defined the early 1980s with their fierce battles that often determined the No. 1 spot, Andre Agassi and Sampras carried the torch in the 1990s, shaping multiple seasons at the top with vastly different styles and personalities.
*Research for this story provided by Jon Jeraj
