NEW YORK — Three years after winning his first major title and becoming the youngest No. 1 player in history, Carlos Alcaraz reclaimed his place atop the sport with another win at the US Open.
On Sunday, facing rival Jannik Sinner for the third straight major final, Alcaraz, from Spain, utilized his powerful forehand, ever-improving serve and electric athleticism for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory in a relatively swift 2 hours, 42 minutes. In doing so, he took back the world’s top ranking from Sinner, after a 65-week run, and extended his head-to-head record to 10-5 over the Italian player.
After Alcaraz secured the win with an ace on his third championship point, he threw his hands in the air above his head before crouching over on his knees with his trademark smile radiating across his face. Seconds later, he was hugging Sinner at the net and the two — who have a friendly relationship — had their arms around each other as they walked off the court.
“For me, achieving [the No. 1 ranking] once again, it is a dream,” Alcaraz later told reporters. “Doing in the same day as getting another Grand Slam feels even better. It’s everything I’m working for, and I’m really happy to be able to live these experiences.”
Playing in front of 24,000 fans, which included dozens of A-list celebrities and President Donald Trump, Alcaraz took control from the start — breaking Sinner in the opening game — and dominated for much 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.
Having previously won twice at Wimbledon and the French Open, Alcaraz joined Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Mats Wilander as the only men to win multiple major titles on all three surfaces.
Though Alcaraz won Sunday’s match in convincing fashion, the duo has collectively dominated the tour over the past two seasons. Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to win all eight of the major titles in 2024 and 2025, each having won four. While their rivalry was officially born in a late-night, marathon quarterfinal match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2022, which remains the latest finish (2:50 a.m.) in tournament history, the pair met for the first time in a major final at the French Open in June.
After losing the first two sets in Paris, Alcaraz fought back to win in a classic, rivalry-defining five sets, which included multiple tiebreaks, including in the decider, and lasted 5 hours, 29 minutes. Sinner then returned the favor by dethroning Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, at Wimbledon, with a more straightforward 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 result.
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When they squared off again Sunday, their first time meeting at the US Open since that memorable encounter in 2022, they walked on court as undoubtedly the most dominant men in tennis. It marked the first time in history two men played each other in three consecutive Slam finals within a single season, and the first time it happened in the sport since Venus and Serena Williams did so in 2002.
“I’m seeing you more than my family,” Alcaraz said jokingly as he looked toward Sinner during the trophy ceremony. “It’s great to share the court, to share the locker rooms, everything.”
While only 760 points separate Alcaraz and Sinner in the rankings after the match, there is now a 4,850-point gap between Sinner and the rest of the field.
Sinner, the defending champion, had arrived in New York as the favorite with his 21-match win streak at hard-court majors and having won the previous three Slams on the surface. But in the final lead-in tournament ahead of the US Open, he had to retire from the Cincinnati Open final against Alcaraz after only five games because of a viral illness. He also dealt with an abdominal muscle injury during his semifinal match against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday.
But Alcaraz has had no such struggles throughout the fortnight. In fact, he became the first man to advance to the final without dropping a set since Roger Federer a decade ago and had dropped only two service games in total en route to the championship match. He concluded the tournament by having won 98 of 101 service games.
Sinner said Alcaraz had noticeably improved since their match at Wimbledon.
“I felt like he was a bit cleaner today,” Sinner said. “You know, the things what I did well in London, he did better today. I felt like he was doing everything slightly better today, especially serving, both sides, both swings very clean.
“He raised his level when he had to, so yeah, I mean, I’m still proud of myself, about the season I’m playing and making. But yeah, he played better than me today.”
Sinner was critical of his own performance, calling himself “very predictable” in the match. He said he was going to make some changes to become “a bit more unpredictable” and on his serve — “just small things” — to make himself more competitive in the future.
Alcaraz broke Sinner five times in the match. While he won the opening set in only 37 minutes — to the surprise of the crowd — Sinner found a way to respond in the second set by increasingly targeting Alcaraz’s backhand. It was briefly effective, leveling the match at one-set apiece, but it was all Alcaraz from there.
In the end, Alcaraz had 42 winners to Sinner’s 21, and he led in just about every statistical category. He had 10 aces, compared to only two for Sinner, and had no doubles faults, while Sinner had four. Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, said he and Alcaraz studied the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals and knew what they wanted to do differently against Sinner on Sunday, though he didn’t reveal any specific insight.
“I think we prepared the match very good, watching some matches and see the specific details we have to play,” Ferrero said after the match. “Carlos did 100%. It’s easy to say and very difficult to do it. The performance today was perfect.”
When told about Ferrero’s comments later, especially about his use of the word “perfect,” Alcaraz was thrilled. He added he believed it was the best tournament he had ever played.
“Since the first rounds to the end of the tournament, [it’s] the best tournament so far that I have ever played,” Alcaraz said. “The consistency of my level during the whole tournament has been really, really high, which I’m really proud of, because it’s something that I’ve been working on, to be really consistent. I think this tournament I saw that I can play really consistent.”
The start of the final was delayed by 30 minutes for heightened security measures in place because of Trump’s attendance. Even with the extra time, many fans were not in their seats at the start, and the stadium didn’t appear to be full until the second set. Sinner later told reporters neither the delay, nor the initial absence of a capacity crowd, affected him during the match.
“They told us in a huge amount before[hand] that the match [would] start at 2:30, so we were not warming up twice,” Sinner said. “It was all fine.”
Trump, a New York native was a guest of Rolex in its corporate suite. He became the first sitting president to attend the event since Bill Clinton in 2000. He was shown twice on the videoboard during the match, both times to a mixed, but loud, fan reaction of jeers and cheers.
