Carlos Alcaraz won his second Grand Slam title of the year–tying Jannik Sinner in that department–by defeating his chief rival 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final on Sunday afternoon. The second-ranked Spaniard, who will return to world No. 1 on Monday, triumphed after two hours and 42 minutes.
This marks the second straight season in which Sinner and Alcaraz swept the four Grand Slams titles with two wins apiece. In 2024 it was Alcaraz emerging victorious at the French Open and Wimbledon, Sinner prevailing at the Australian Open and U.S. Open. This time around it was Alcaraz at the French Open and U.S. Open, Sinner at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
“I’m seeing you more than my family,” Alcaraz joked to Sinner during the trophy ceremony.
And it could be true.
The two best players on tour–by a country mile–have squared off 15 times, including five in 2025 (all since the start of May). Alcaraz leads the H2H 10-5 and is 2-0 against Sinner at the U.S. Open, having previously won an epic five-setter in the 2022 quarters. He also survived in five in the French Open championship match a few months ago, coming back from two sets down and saving triple-match point.
Sinner did not come anywhere near that close in New York on Sunday. Whereas Alcaraz had not lost a set throughout the entire event, Sinner looked somewhat vulnerable at times during four-set wins over Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Italian appeared to be in better shape physically in the final than he did against Auger-Aliassime, but he served at a dreadful 48 percent–a particularly costly number given that he won a mere 48 percent of his second-serve points. Alcaraz capitalized by breaking serve five times.
“You are doing an amazing job,” Sinner told Alcaraz. “I know [there is] a lot of hard work behind this performance today. You were better than me…. I tried my best today; I couldn’t do more.
“I felt like he was doing everything slightly better today, especially serving, both sides, both swings very clean,” Sinner added during his press conference. “Yeah, I think that’s it. I give lots of credit to him, because he handled the situation better than I did. Yeah, he raised his level when he had to. I’m still proud of myself, about the season I’m playing and making. But, yeah, he played better than me today.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.