Carlos Alcaraz Recaptures World Number 1 Ranking at the US Open
After three years of conquering his first Grand Slam title and becoming the youngest player to reach number 1 in the world, Carlos Alcaraz has once again claimed his privileged position in tennis, achieving a resounding victory at the US Open. In a final that will go down in history, Alcaraz faced his rival, Jannik Sinner, for the third consecutive time in a Grand Slam final. The Spaniard unleashed his powerful forehand, a constantly improving serve, and electrifying athleticism to secure the victory with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 and 6-4, in a time of 2 hours and 42 minutes. This triumph not only secured him the title, but also allowed him to regain the top spot in the world ranking, displacing Sinner after 65 weeks. Furthermore, he extended his head-to-head record to 10-5 over the Italian player. After securing the victory with an ace on his third championship point, Alcaraz celebrated effusively, showing a radiant smile that has become his personal trademark. Seconds later, he embraced Sinner at the net, in a gesture of camaraderie that reflects the good relationship between both players.“For me, achieving number 1 once again is a dream,” Alcaraz told reporters. “Achieving it on the same day I get another Grand Slam makes it even better. It’s everything I work for and I’m very happy to be able to live these experiences.”
Carlos Alcaraz
Before an audience of 24,000 spectators, which included numerous celebrities and former President Donald Trump, Alcaraz took control from the start, breaking Sinner’s serve in the first game and dominating much of the match. This triumph represents the sixth Grand Slam title in his career, and at 22 years old, he becomes the second youngest man to reach this milestone.
Alcaraz, who had already won twice at Wimbledon and the French Open, joins a select group of tennis players, including Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Mats Wilander, as the only men to win multiple major titles on all three surfaces. Although Alcaraz won Sunday’s match convincingly, the pair has dominated the tennis scene in the last two seasons. Alcaraz and Sinner have jointly won all eight Grand Slam titles in 2024 and 2025, with four victories each. Their rivalry was cemented in an epic quarter-final match at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2022, which remains the latest finish (2:50 a.m.) in the tournament’s history. The duo first met in a Grand Slam final at the French Open in June. After losing the first two sets in Paris, Alcaraz came back to win in an exciting five-set match, which included multiple tiebreaks and lasted 5 hours and 29 minutes. Sinner then responded, defeating Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, at Wimbledon, with a more straightforward result of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.When they faced each other again on Sunday, in their first US Open meeting since that memorable match in 2022, both players arrived on the court as the most dominant men in tennis. This was the first time in history that two men faced each other in three consecutive Grand Slam finals in the same season, and the first time this had happened in the sport since Venus and Serena Williams did it in 2002.
“I see you more than my family,” Alcaraz joked, looking at Sinner during the trophy ceremony. “It’s great to share the court, share the locker rooms, everything.” Although only 760 points separate Alcaraz and Sinner in the ranking after the match, there is a difference of 4,850 points between Sinner and the rest of the players. Sinner, the defending champion, arrived in New York as the favorite, with a streak of 21 consecutive victories in major hard-court tournaments and having won the last three Grand Slams on this surface. However, in the tournament prior to the US Open, he had to withdraw from the Cincinnati Open final against Alcaraz after only five games due to a viral illness. He also suffered an abdominal muscle injury during his semifinal match against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday. Alcaraz, for his part, did not face such difficulties during the tournament. In fact, he became the first man to advance to the final without losing a set since Roger Federer a decade ago and only lost two service games in total before the final. He concluded the tournament having won 98 out of 101 service games. Sinner acknowledged that Alcaraz had improved noticeably since their match at Wimbledon. “I felt it was a little cleaner today,” Sinner said. “You know, the things I did well in London, he did them better today. I felt that today he did everything a little better, especially the serve, both sides, both shots very clean.” “He raised his level when he had to, so yes, I am proud of myself, of the season I am playing and doing. But yes, today he played better than me.” Sinner was critical of his own performance, calling himself “very predictable” in the match. He said he was going to make some changes to be “a little more unpredictable” and in his serve, “just small things”, to be more competitive in the future. Alcaraz broke Sinner’s serve five times in the match. Although he won the first set in just 37 minutes, surprising the crowd, Sinner found a way to respond in the second set, targeting Alcaraz’s backhand more and more. It was briefly effective, leveling the match at one set apiece, but from then on, it was all Alcaraz.In the end, Alcaraz had 42 winners to Sinner’s 21, and led in almost every statistical category. He had 10 aces, compared to Sinner’s two, and committed no double faults, while Sinner had four. Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, said that he and Alcaraz studied the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals and knew what they wanted to do differently against Sinner on Sunday, although he did not reveal any specific details.
“I think we prepared for the match very well, watching some matches and seeing the specific details we had to play,” Ferrero said after the match. “Carlos did 100%. It’s easy to say and very difficult to do. Today’s performance was perfect.” When Ferrero’s comments were mentioned to him, especially about the use of the word “perfect”, Alcaraz was emotional. He added that he believed this had been the best tournament he had played. “From the first rounds to the end of the tournament, [it’s] the best tournament so far that I’ve played,” said Alcaraz. “The consistency of my level throughout the tournament has been very, very high, which I am very proud of, because it’s something I’ve been working on, to be really consistent. I think in this tournament I saw that I can play very consistently.”The start of the final was delayed 30 minutes due to the additional security measures implemented by Trump’s assistance. Even with the extra time, many fans were not in their seats at the beginning, and the stadium did not appear to be full until the second set. Sinner later told reporters that neither the delay nor the initial absence of a full crowd affected him during the match.
“We were told well in advance that the match [would start] at 2:30, so we didn’t warm up twice,” Sinner said. “Everything was 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 video screen during the game, both times met with a mixed, but loud, reaction of boos and cheers from the fans.
