ATP Tour
2025 Rivalry: Alcaraz vs. Sinner
In 2025, the pair reached the finals of all six Lexus ATP Head2Head competitions
November 24, 2025
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Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, pictured above, met six times in 2025 in Rome.
Grant Thompson
To mark the end of another exciting season, ATPTour.com presents our annual “Best of” series, which will reflect the most interesting rivalries, games, comebacks, upsets and more. This week, we’re taking a look back at the best games of the year.
The Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner match has quickly become must-see TV, not only for tennis fans but also for sports enthusiasts, offering a true “expect the unexpected” experience. The two met six times in 2025, with Alcaraz winning four times, extending the Lexus ATP head-to-head lead to 10-6 against the Italian.
ATPTour.com looks back at six of their matches this season.
Rome final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 7-6(5), 6-1
Sinner is aiming to become the first Italian men’s champion in Rome since 1976 (Adriano Panatta), with Alcaraz crashing the party in a thrilling showdown at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Sinner, competing for the first time since lifting the Australian Open trophy, looked poised to seize the opening set after taking two set points at 6-5 in the return set, but an unforced error on his forehand and an ill-timed backhand left the door ajar.
Alcaraz weathered the storm and found his best tennis of the tournament, ending Sinner’s 26-match winning streak and claiming his first Rome trophy. The Spaniard’s slice serve played a huge role in the draw, hitting 19 winners to Sinner’s seven. It was a hard-earned victory and he won again in the Lexus ATP showdown series against Sinner.
“He had that aura,” Alcaraz said of Sinner. “It’s different when you see him on the other side of the net. That’s why I obviously felt, how can I say it, that people were putting so much pressure on us in some way when we were face to face.”
Roland Garros final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2)
Alcaraz staged a comeback in years on Court Philippe Chatrier, coming back from two sets down and saving three championship points to beat Sinner in the longest men’s final in Roland Garros history. The epic match, which lasted 5 hours and 29 minutes, has experts debating it as one of the greatest matches of all time.
In the fourth set, facing three consecutive championship points, Alcaraz mustered up the courage to keep his serve with a score of 3-5, 0/40, and then broke Sinner in the next game, completely turning the game around.
As the deafening cheers from the crowd echoed through the Parisian night, Alcaraz once again showed his determination in the deciding set. After failing to serve at 5-4, he regrouped and made the final decisive blow. In the first Roland Garros final, which was decided by a tie-break in the fifth set, Alcaraz showed a perfect performance at the most critical moment, becoming the third person in the Open era to save championship points in a Grand Slam (Novak Djokovic, Gaston Gaudio) and go on to win the championship trophy.
Many will remember the fifth-set tiebreaker, when Alcaraz was nearly at his peak, knocking off winner after winner, including a screaming forehand pass to seal the Musketeers Cup.
“I think real champions are created when you respond to pressure in the best way possible,” Alcaraz reflected.
Carlos Alcaraz” style=”width:100%;” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2025/06/08/19/14/alcaraz-roland-garros-2025-final-celebration.jpg”>
Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images
Wimbledon final, sinner d. Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Five weeks after heartbreak at Roland Garros, Sinner made a triumphant return, defeating two-time defending champion Alcaraz in four sets to claim his first Wimbledon title.
At the All England Club, many will be watching to see how Sinner will respond to a devastating defeat against his greatest rival. After trailing four games 2-4 in the first set, the Italian rallied with steely determination to hand Alcaraz his first loss in a Grand Slam final.
Sinner took the bold approach despite losing to Alcaraz five times in a row at the time. The longer the game went on, the harder he hit the ball, but his consistency didn’t decrease. Sinner slashed back, putting pressure on Alcaraz while holding ground with plenty of serve. The final set was a sinner lawn tennis masterclass. He trailed by just one point on his first serve and netted all nine points to be crowned the champion.
“It’s mostly emotional because I had a really tough loss in Paris,” Sinner said at the ceremony. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you win or how you lose in the big games, you just have to understand what you did wrong and try to fix it, and that’s what we did. We tried to take the loss and keep working hard. That’s definitely one of the reasons why I’m here to lift this trophy.”
This is what it means❤️@janniksin | Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WIMBLEDON pic.twitter.com/WqPYkmGSDf
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 13, 2025
Cincinnati finals, Alcaraz d. Sinner 5-0 [ret.]
The much-anticipated Cincinnati Open final in August came to an abrupt end. Sinner looked out of shape in the early stages and looked exhausted in the sweltering heat. The Italian called in the doctor after going 5-0 down. Unable to continue playing, Sinner played only 23 minutes before exiting the game.
“I haven’t been feeling good since yesterday,” Sinner said in an apology to fans. “I thought I would improve on the night but it ended up being worse. I tried to step up and try to at least make it a small game but I couldn’t take any more.”
Alcaraz consoled the ailing sinner after shaking hands and won his first Cincinnati title and his eighth ATP Masters 1000 title, the most by an active player other than Novak Djokovic (40). Alcaraz has been looking for redemption in Cincinnati, losing championship points to Djokovic in 2023 in one of the most thrilling finals in Masters 1000 history.
“I really, really want this trophy since I lost that final in 2023,” Alcaraz said. “I’m really proud and happy to be able to lift it.”
U.S. Open final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Alcaraz and Sinner have met in six finals this season, with the rivals’ next title match taking place at the U.S. Open. In a high-stakes clash, Alcaraz not only stopped Sinner from defending his title at Flushing Meadows, but also replaced Sinner as world number one, ending the Italian’s 65-week debut reign.
A confident Alcaraz fired ferocious shots from both wings to double Sinner’s winning tally (42 to 21). The Spaniard dominated many of the exchanges and never lost control of his serve, trailing just nine points on his first serve in a clinical display. Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero later described his players’ performance as “perfect,” a sentiment echoed by Alcaraz, the current six-time Grand Slam champion.
“He always wants the best out of me, and I can’t say too many times that he said, I played perfect. So for me, it was a great win,” Alcaraz said. “But, yeah, he’s right. I thought I played perfect. I played perfect.”
This is the second consecutive season that Alcaraz and Sinner have won four Grand Slam titles, meaning they have teamed up to win eight consecutive Grand Slam titles.
“I think we push each other to the limit every time,” Alcaraz said of his rivalry with Sinner. “My training is just focused on seeing how I can do better, just to beat Janik. So I think this competition is special, competing for a Grand Slam, competing for something great.”
Won the championship again🏆, ranked first again🥇🔥
Alcaraz won in New York, lifted the trophy again, and defeated Sinner 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4 to regain the world number one position in the PIF ATP rankings 🚀@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/jKOqQMGS7E
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 7, 2025
Nitto ATP Finals Championship, Sinner d. Alcaraz 7-6(4), 7-5
The duo’s season deserves to end on the sport’s most exciting indoor stage, the Nitto ATP Finals. Under the lights, in the lively atmosphere of Turin, Sinner played red-line tennis from the first ball to the last.
Sinner’s greatest weapon is his serve. After the U.S. Open, the Italian made some technical adjustments to his serve, and his adjustments proved to be effective. In a tense first set, Sinner erased a set point with an ice-cold second serve at 117 mph. Sinner had prided himself on razor-sharp accuracy all week, during which he didn’t drop a set, and he gave Alcaraz little breathing room behind his improved serve. Sinner won 84 percent of his first-serve points against Alcaraz, finishing the week with a perfect 5-0 record and a record $5,071,000 championship purse.
“In tennis, there’s one shot you can control, and that’s the serve,” Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill said. “Jannik and Simone [Vagnozzi] He’s done some incredible work over the last four or five weeks to adjust his serve and find a rhythm and rhythm that improves his first-serve accuracy. “
Sinner reflected on his final game of the season: “I feel like I’m a better player than I was last year, and I think that’s the most important thing. It’s all part of the process. I always say and believe that if you keep working hard and trying to be a better player, the results will come. That’s what happened this year.”
