Jannik Sinner draped his left arm and his racket around Carlos Alcaraz’s neck. Alcaraz then put his right arm on Sinner’s shoulder.
The friendly greeting between the two players after the latest in a series of high-stakes matches was a fitting image for the year in men’s tennis.
Sinner and Alcaraz are dominating the game and their levels are so close that they keep alternating who wins the biggest titles.
Alcaraz beat Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the French Open final; Sinner got revenge at Wimbledon; Alcaraz won again at the US Open; and then Sinner defended his ATP Finals title before his home fans in Turin on Sunday.
Alcaraz sealed the year-ending No. 1 ranking, while No. 2 Sinner goes into the offseason coming off a confidence-boosting victory over his rival.
“The facts are they’re a level above everyone,” said Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was beaten by both Sinner (in the group stage) and Alcaraz (in the semifinals) at the season-ending event for the top eight players.
“The ranking doesn’t lie. They’re the two best players. That’s the facts. Different game styles, but both put extreme pressure on their opponent in different ways,” added Auger-Aliassime, who ends the year at a career-high No. 5. “They keep showing up and playing good, so credit to them.”
Added ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, “These two guys are really incredible for our sport, both on and off the court.”
It was the most-watched tennis match in Italian TV history with 7 million viewers, according to numbers released by the national ratings service Monday. Sinner, who also won the Australian Open, reached the final of all four Grand Slams and the finals — despite missing three months near the start of the year after settling a doping case. Like in 2024, Sinner didn’t drop a set at finals—becoming the first player in the event’s history to achieve that feat in two different years.
“I feel to be a better player than last year,” Sinner said. “All the losses I had, I tried to see the positive thing and trying to evolve me as a player. I felt like this happened in a very good way.”
Alcaraz acknowledged a year ago when he won only one match during the group stage at finals that he still had to learn how to play indoors.