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Rivalries of 2025: Alcaraz vs. Sinner

To mark the end of another thrilling season, ATPTour.com is unveiling our annual ‘Best Of’ series, which will reflect on the most intriguing rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and more. This week, we are looking at the best rivalries of the year.

The Carlos Alcaraz versus Jannik Sinner rivalry has quickly turned into must-watch TV not just for tennis fans, but for sports enthusiasts, offering a genuine ‘expect the unexpected’ experience. They met six times in 2025, with Alcaraz winning on four occasions to extend his Lexus ATP Head2Head lead to 10-6 against the Italian.

ATPTour.com recaps their six clashes from this season.

Rome Final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 7-6(5), 6-1
With Sinner aiming to become the first male Italian champion in Rome since 1976 (Adriano Panatta), Alcaraz crashed the party in a pulsating showdown at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Sinner, playing his first event since lifting the Australian Open trophy, looked poised to seize the opening set when he held two set points on return at 6-5, but a forehand unforced error and a mistimed backhand left the door ajar.

Alcaraz weathered the storm and found his best tennis of the tournament to snap Sinner’s 26-match winning streak and capture his maiden Rome trophy. The Spaniard used his slice serve on the Deuce-side to great effect and struck 19 winners compared to Sinner’s seven. It was a hard-fought victory to earn another win in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Sinner.

“He has that aura,” Alcaraz said of Sinner. “When you’re seeing him on the other side of the net, it’s different. That’s why obviously I’m feeling that the people are putting so much, — how can I say — pressure in a certain way to both of us when we are facing each other.”

Roland Garros Final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2)
Alcaraz delivered a comeback for the ages on Court Philippe-Chatrier, clawing back from two sets down and saving three championship points to stun Sinner in the longest men’s final in Roland Garros history. The five-hour, 29-minute epic had pundits debating its place among the greatest matches ever.

Facing three consecutive championship points at 3‑5, 0/40 in the fourth set, Alcaraz summoned every ounce of grit to somehow hold serve before breaking Sinner in the next game to flip the match on its head.

With the crowd’s deafening roar echoing into the Paris night, Alcaraz showed his resolve once more in the final set. After failing to serve out the match at 5-4, he regrouped for one final, and decisive, push. In the first Roland Garros final decided by a fifth-set tie-break, Alcaraz delivered a flawless performance when it mattered most, becoming the third man in the Open Era to save championship point (Novak Djokovic, Gaston Gaudio) at a major and go on to lift the title.

Many will remember the fifth-set tie-break, during which Alcaraz was nearly at his peak, crushing winner after winner, including a screaming forehand pass to clinch the Coupe des Mousquetaires.

“I think the real champions are made in situations when you deal with that pressure, with those situations, in the best way possible,” Alcaraz reflected.

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Wimbledon Final, Sinner d. Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Five weeks after his Roland Garros heartbreak, Sinner made a triumphant comeback to down two-time defending champion Alcaraz in four sets and claim his maiden Wimbledon title.

At the All England Club, many eyes were on how Sinner would respond to such a devastating defeat to his greatest rival. After dropping four games from 4-2 in the opening set, the Italian rallied with steely determination to hand Alcaraz his first loss in a major final.

Sinner, despite five consecutive losses to Alcaraz at the time, went with a bold approach. The longer the rally, the harder he pummelled the ball, without dropping in consistency. Sinner took big cuts on return to apply pressure on Alcaraz while holding his ground with hefty serving. The final set was a Sinner masterclass of grass-court tennis. He dropped just one point behind his first delivery and converted all nine of his net points to be crowned champion.

“It’s mostly emotional, because I had a very tough loss in Paris,” Sinner said during the trophy ceremony. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you win or how you lose at important tournaments, you just have to understand what you did wrong and try to work on that, and that’s exactly what we did. We tried to accept the loss and just kept working. This is for sure one of the reasons I am holding this trophy here.”

THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS ❤️@janniksin | <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wimbledon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/WqPYkmGSDf

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 13, 2025

Cincinnati Final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 5-0 [ret.]
A highly anticipated final at August’s Cincinnati Open featured an abrupt ending. In the early stages, Sinner appeared out of sorts, looking physically drained in the sweltering heat. The Italian called for the doctor after falling behind 0-5. Unable to continue, Sinner retired after just 23 minutes of action.

“From yesterday I didn’t feel great,” Sinner said while apologising to fans. “I thought that I would improve during the night, but it came up worse. I tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn’t handle more.”

Alcaraz, who consoled the ailing Sinner after they shook hands, claimed his first Cincinnati crown and his eighth ATP Masters 1000 title, the most of any active player besides Novak Djokovic (40). Alcaraz had been seeking redemption in Cincinnati, where in 2023 he let slip championship point against Djokovic in one of the most thrilling finals in Masters 1000 history.

“Since I lost that final in 2023, I wanted this trophy really, really badly,” said Alcaraz. “I’m just really proud and happy to be able to lift it.”

US Open Final, Alcaraz d. Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Each of Alcaraz and Sinner’s six meetings this season came in finals, and the next title clash between the two rivals’ came at the US Open. In a high-stakes encounter, Alcaraz not only denied Sinner’s title defence at Flushing Meadows, but also replaced Sinner as World No. 1, ending the Italian’s 65-week debut reign.

A confident Alcaraz unleashed ferocious hitting from both wings and doubled the number of winners as Sinner (42 to 21). The Spaniard dictated many of the rallies and never loosened his grip behind his serve, dropping just nine points behind his first delivery in a clinical performance. Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero later described his charge’s showing as “perfect”, a verdict the now-six-time major champion Alcaraz echoed.

“He always wants me to play at my best, and not too many times I would say he’s said that, that I played perfectly. So for me, it’s a great win,” Alcaraz said. “But, yeah, he’s right. I think I played perfect. I played perfectly.”

This year marked the second consecutive season in which Alcaraz and Sinner split the four Slams, meaning that they have combined to triumph at eight straight majors.

“I think we push each other to the limit every time,” Alcaraz said of his rivalry with Sinner. “My practices are just focused to see how I can be better just to beat Jannik. So I think the rivalry is special, splitting Grand Slams, fighting for great things.”

CHAMPION AGAIN 🏆 NUMBER ONE, ONCE MORE 🥇🔥

Alcaraz triumphs in New York, lifting the trophy again AND reclaiming his spot as World No.1 in the PIF ATP Rankings with a 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4 win over Sinner 🚀@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/jKOqQMGS7E

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 7, 2025

Nitto ATP Finals Championship Match, Sinner d. Alcaraz 7-6(4), 7-5
A season of twin supremacy deserved nothing less than a final act on the sport’s most electric indoor stage, the Nitto ATP Finals. Under the lights, in a crackling Turin atmosphere, Sinner delivered red-line tennis from first ball to last.

Sinner’s biggest weapon was his serve. Having made some technical tweaks to his serve post-US Open, the Italian’s adjustments proved effective. In a tight opening set, Sinner erased a set point with an ice-cold 117mph second serve. Boasting pinpoint accuracy all week, during which he did not drop a set, Sinner gave Alcaraz little to no breathing room behind his revamped delivery. Sinner won 84 per cent of his first-serve points against Alcaraz to finish the week with a perfect 5-0 record and a record $5,071,000 champion’s payout.

“You have control over one shot in tennis, and that is the serve,” said Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill. “Jannik and Simone [Vagnozzi] have done some incredible work over the last four or five weeks to rejig the serve and find that rhythm and tempo where he has been able to up the first-serve percentage.”

Sinner reflected on his final match of the season: “I feel I am a better player than last year, I think this is the most important. It’s all part of the process. I always say and believe that if you keep working and trying to be a better player, the results, they’re going to come. This year it was like this.”

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Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF: Tournament-record prize money

The 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF will award a tournament-record $2,101,250 million in prize money at the 20-and-under event, which will be played in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 17-21 December.

If the champion at this year’s tournament lifts the trophy with an undefeated record, he will earn $539,750.

Three matches at this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals will be worth more than $100,000. Each semi-final victory will be worth $116,000 and the championship match will yield the winner $157,250. The participation fee for each player at the event is $154,000.

Prize Money

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'It gives me chills' – Italian 'brotherhood' inspires Davis Cup hat-trick

Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini lead Italy to a historic third straight Davis Cup title in Bologna.

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Italy win historic third consecutive Davis Cup title

Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli guided Italy to a historic third consecutive Davis Cup title on Sunday when they earned victories in front of a raucous crowd in Bologna against Spain.

In the opening match of the tie, Berrettini produced a flawless display to down Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 to give his nation the perfect start. Cobolli then recovered from dropping seven of the first eight games in his match against Jaume Munar to earn a 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 win and send the Italian bench and the packed crowd in Bologna into wild celebration.

Italy also triumphed at the Davis Cup Finals in 2023 and 2024 in Malaga and is now the first country since the United States (1968-1972) to win three consecutive titles.

Berrettini ensured Italy made the perfect start in Sunday’s final by delivering an impressive performance on serve. The 29-year-old fired 13 aces and did not face a break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to his 79-minute win. The No. 56 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has won his past 11 Davis Cup matches, dating back to 2022.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK Azzurri domination! 🇮🇹@DavisCup | #DavisCup | @federtennis pic.twitter.com/QDZiF1Bn7n

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 23, 2025

With the hopes of Italy then on Cobolli, the 23-year-old demonstrated an abundance of grit to rally after a slow start against Munar. After losing the first set and dropping his serve immediately at the start of the second, Cobolli crucially broke back to level at 1-1. He then converted on his seventh set point of the second set to force a decider and found the key breakthrough in the 11th game of the third set. Cobolli enjoyed a memorable week on home soil, having saved seven match points in his win against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the semi-finals.

Spain was competing in the Davis Cup Finals title match for the first time since triumphing in 2019. The former champion defeated Germany and Czechia en route to the final.

Did You Know?
Italy has become the first non Grand Slam nation to win the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup titles in the same season on multiple occasions, following the United States and Australia. This week, Italy did it without the services of Top 10 stars Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti.

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Spain set up Davis Cup final showdown with Italy

Spain will face two-time defending champions Italy in the Davis Cup final after overcoming Germany in a deciding doubles match.

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Granollers/Martinez send Spain to title match at Davis Cup Finals

Marcel Granollers and Pedro Martinez sent Spain to the title match at the Davis Cup Finals on Saturday, when they earned a hard-fought 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 deciding doubles rubber win against Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz.

Earlier, Alexander Zverev had levelled the tie for Germany in Bologna with a 7-6(2) 7-6(5) victory against Jaume Munar after Pablo Carreno Busta had beaten Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 7-6(6) to give Spain the lead.

With the doubles left to decide the semi-final tie, Granollers and Martinez stepped up to send Spain through. They crucially saved one break point when serving for the match at 5-3, 30/40 in the third set, earning victory on their first match point to spark jubilant scenes of celebration among the Spanish team.

In the first match of the day, Carreno Busta saved five consecutive set points in the second set against Struff, rallying from 1/6 behind in the tie-break to give his nation the lead after one hour and 46 minutes.

The No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings Zverev clubbed 32 winners, including 13 aces, past Munar but ultimately his victory was in vain. Zverev ends his season holding a 57-25 record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Spain is in its first Davis Cup final since lifting the trophy in 2019. The former champion will play two-time defending champion Italy in Sunday’s final.

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Celebrating Ivan Dodig's retirement: 'I always gave everything'

On 6 February 2011, Ivan Dodig hit an ace to defeat Michael Berrer and claim his first ATP Tour singles title in front of his home fans in Zagreb. Or so the Croatian thought.

Dodig threw his racquet into the crowd and walked up to the net thinking the match was over. Chair umpire Cedric Mourier, now an ATP Supervisor, told the righty it had been a let.

“I was like, ‘No way’. I could not believe it,” Dodig told ATPTour.com. “It was a hectic situation because I threw the racquet and I needed to ask the guy to please give me back the racquet. I lost the next point, and it was Deuce. Somehow, I managed to finish the match. I was lucky. I always was thinking about it. Imagine that I lost that match, it would have been a disaster.”

Instead, Dodig closed out a 6-3, 6-4 victory for his lone tour-level singles trophy and in the 15 years since has crafted a memorable career in singles and doubles. The proud 40-year-old, who reached No. 29 in the PIF ATP Rankings, No. 2 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings and won 24 tour-level doubles titles, has retired.

“In the beginning of the year, I was considering my options. And then through the year, after a couple of months, I already decided and the people close to me knew it would be my last year,” Dodig said. “But I didn’t put so much attention into that, and now at the end, in the past couple of months, I decided and finally started to share the good friends that this would be my last year.”

Having accomplished a lot in his career in both singles and doubles, Dodig simply felt that it was a good time to hang up his racquet.

“Usually players break Top 100 at the age 20, 21. I broke Top 100 [when I was] almost 24. But after that, I stayed there for a long time, for 15, 16 years,” Dodig said. “I achieved a lot of things, and played so much tennis in singles and doubles. So it’s a quite long career for me, and I’m really happy about it and really had a good time all these years.”

Dodig is from Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the same small town as former World No. 3 Marin Cilic. Dodig is nearly four years older than Cilic, but they grew up together and are best friends.

Their town is known more for religious pilgrimages than athletics. When Dodig and Cilic were growing up, the only tennis player they could watch on television was Goran Ivanisevic.

“That’s how we all [fell] in love with tennis and we started to dream,” Dodig recalled.

Cilic moved to Zagreb at an early age to chase his dreams and later trained under the tutelage of Bob Brett. He reached great heights in the sport, winning a major title at the 2014 US Open, but never let slip his relationship with Dodig. They even won the silver medal together in men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics.

“We have to be proud. It’s a special story and a special gift. We got from the beginning to the end and [spent] a lot of time sitting together talking about it,” Dodig said. “It’s special and not so many people know, but the journey we have was different from so many others and we’re proud of that. We motivated so many kids around here, around this region, to play tennis. And even now to see so many kids playing tennis because of us, it’s a great thing.”

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ivan Dodig (@ivan_dodig)

The same year he triumphed in Zagreb, Dodig stunned then-World No. 2 Rafael Nadal 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada. The Croatian also earned multiple wins against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic and Cilic, and beat the likes of Kei Nishikori.

“I had a great career in singles, I have to admit,” Dodig said. “So many good wins, great memories.”

Throughout his singles career, Dodig excelled in doubles. Eventually, his back began to trouble him and he played his final tour-level singles match in July 2017, transitioning to doubles.

The Croatian won three men’s doubles majors, claiming glory at Roland Garros in 2015 with Marcelo Melo, at the 2021 Australian Open with Filip Polasek and at 2023 Roland Garros with Austin Krajicek. Dodig won six Masters 1000 titles and competed in the Nitto ATP Finals nine times with four different partners: Melo, Marcel Granollers, Polasek and Krajicek.

“I think I made a great, great decision at that time,” Dodig said. “I extended my career for another seven, eight years in doubles and enjoyed amazing success in doubles with great partners.”

Krajicek, with whom Dodig won Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours in 2023, said: “What a tremendous career he’s had. He’s been someone that I’ve looked up to for a long time, and obviously I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. [It has been a privilege] to be a small part of his journey and play alongside him and really get to feel like he’s almost family to me. We had a great time playing together and had a lot of success. It’s awesome to see someone like Ivan, who’s been such a a role model for so many young guys coming into the sport, and to uphold such a high standard of work ethic and grit his whole career has been really fun to watch. I always had a tremendous amount of respect for Ivan and of course wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

For Dodig’s part, the 40-year-old hopes he has made a difference for the next generation.

“I hope that through my sports career that I motivated some kids to find a way and to search for their dreams. Hopefully they can also look to achieve their dreams and if I motivated them a little bit, I’m very proud and happy,” Dodig said. “I always gave everything on the tennis court — for myself, for my family, for the community and for the people who love tennis and will try to be professional. I gave everything into it and I’m very happy and satisfied.”

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Heroic Cobolli saves 7 MPs, sends Italy past Belgium into third straight Davis Cup final

Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Berrettini propelled Italy into its third straight Davis Cup final on Friday in Bologna, where Cobolli delivered a show-stopping performance to close out a 2-0 victory over Belgium.

After Berrettini had given Italy the early advantage with a composed 6-3, 6-4 win over Raphael Collignon, Cobolli turned the evening into a spectacle inside the SuperTennis Arena. The 23-year-old survived seven match points in a nerve-shredding 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(15) victory against Zizou Bergs that sent the home fans into a frenzy.

“It’s really tough to say something about this match,” Cobolli said. “We fought for our country, for this win, but in the end I realised my dream. We are in the final now… I played for all of my team, my family, and it’s one of the best days of my life.”

🤯 32-POINT FINAL SET TIEBREAK 🤯

✅ 7 Match points saved @DavisCup | #DavisCup | @cobollifla pic.twitter.com/pE388FW6cO

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 21, 2025

Cobolli ripped his shirt to shreds in celebration after winning a marathon deciding-set tie-break — featuring all seven match-point saves — that sent two-time defending champions Italy through and avenged his lone Davis Cup defeat, inflicted by Bergs during last year’s round-robin stage. He now leads the Belgian 2-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Berrettini, the former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, earned his his seventh consecutive singles win at the event, building on his pivotal role in Italy’s title-winning campaign last year. They are now the first country to reach three consecutive finals since Australia in 2001.

Italy awaits the winner of Saturday’s semi-final clash between Spain and Germany, both of whom reached this stage after winning crucial doubles deciders. Riding a 13-tie winning streak, Italy is aiming to become the first country to win three consecutive Davis Cup titles since USA in 1971.

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Berrettini puts Italy on brink of third successive Davis Cup final

Matteo Berrettini puts two-time defending champions Italy on the brink of a third consecutive Davis Cup final with victory over Belgium’s Raphael Collignon.

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Sinner, Alcaraz & the return of a rare youth-led No. 1 race

The 2025 ATP Tour season ended with a statistical clarity rarely seen in the modern era: Only Jannik Sinner, 24, and Carlos Alcaraz, 22, held the No. 1 spot in the PIF ATP Rankings at any point.

With both players under 25 and splitting the sport’s four majors between them, the season stands as a clear marker of a new phase in the ATP No. 1 Club. Their year-long control at the top places 2025 among the youngest dual-player No. 1 seasons in ATP history.

That distinction becomes clearer in the context of previous decades. Since the inception of the PIF ATP Rankings in 1973, only a small number of seasons have featured all No. 1s being under age 25, with 2025 entering alongside some of the sport’s most formative generational handovers.

ATP Tour seasons when all No. 1 players were under age 25 (since 1973) 

_{*Ages listed reflect the oldest age each player reached while holding the No. 1 spot during that season}

What links these seasons is how sharply they highlight moments of transition — periods in which emerging champions took command of the sport earlier than expected. The 2025 season fits squarely in that lineage, echoing shifts like Bjorn Borg – John McEnroe in 1980 or the early Pete Sampras years in the 1990s.

The comparison with the Big Three era adds essential perspective. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic produced one of the most dramatic and competitive Lexus ATP Head2Head trilogies in tennis history, but their rivalry rarely intersected at No. 1 while they were still so young.

Federer holds the record for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 (237 between 2004-08), Nadal finally broke through in 2008 at age 22, and Djokovic took over in 2011 at 24 — but sustained, two-player battles for No. 1 between them did not arrive until largely after age 25.

That is what sets 2025 apart. Having two multi-major champions contesting the No. 1 spot throughout the same season at ages 22 and 24 is statistically rare and historically significant. The last time a pair this young shared control at the summit was over two decades ago in 2004, when 23-year-old Federer and 21-year-old Andy Roddick dominated.

Rivalries such as that of Sinner-Alcaraz have historically signalled pivotal shifts in the sport. Borg and McEnroe defined the early 1980s with intense battles that often decided the No. 1 ranking, while Andre Agassi and Sampras carried the torch in the 1990s with contrasting styles and personalities shaping multiple seasons at the top.

*Research for this story was provided by Jon Jeraj

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