Carlos Alcaraz is crowned champion of the US Open 2025! The Spanish tennis player, with a smile from ear to ear, celebrated his victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium before a crowd of 24,000 spectators. But before any celebration, the gesture of sportsmanship led him to embrace his rival, Jannik Sinner, demonstrating the great friendship that exists between them off the court.
This US Open final clash was the third consecutive one in a Grand Slam final between Alcaraz and Sinner, a duel that kept fans on the edge of their seats, with ticket prices soaring and the world number one at stake.
At the end, Alcaraz won with a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, conquering his sixth Grand Slam title.
The question everyone is asking is: who will be able to break the hegemony of Alcaraz and Sinner? From now on, the world of tennis is divided into two categories: Sinner and Alcaraz, and the rest.
“I see you more than my family,” Alcaraz joked during the trophy ceremony, looking at Sinner.
Carlos Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic, after his victory in the quarterfinals, acknowledged the difficulty of defeating Alcaraz in the semifinals and Sinner in a hypothetical final.
“We know they are the two best players in the world. Probably everyone expects and anticipates the finals between them. I’m going to try to ruin most people’s plans,” Djokovic declared.
Novak Djokovic
Three days later, Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in a practically one-sided match, with a score of 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-2, advancing to the final. Djokovic, visibly dejected, admitted the difficulty of overcoming Sinner and Alcaraz in Grand Slam tournaments.
“It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the obstacle of Sinner and Alcaraz in the Grand Slams,” Djokovic stated.
The 2025 season marks the first since 2002 in which no member of the “Big Three” (Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal) reached a Grand Slam final. The new era of tennis is evident, and the generational shift is a reality.
Alcaraz and Sinner have won the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, with four titles each. The key question is: will anyone else be able to win a Grand Slam in the near future?Carlos Alcaraz y Jannik Sinner (en segundo plano) han ganado los últimos ocho títulos de Grand Slam.Two years ago, this question might have seemed far-fetched. At the end of the 2023 season, Alcaraz had two Grand Slam titles and Sinner had reached his first Grand Slam semi-final, but hadn’t yet won a title. Both talents were evident, but they weren’t a guarantee of success in every tournament.
Djokovic, on the other hand, had won three of the four Grand Slam titles of the year and showed no signs of slowing down. At the year-end ATP Finals, he felt confident in his chances of breaking the Grand Slam title record.
“You can win four Slams and an Olympic gold medal,” Djokovic said when asked about his goals for next season.
Novak Djokovic
Sinner, despite losing to Djokovic in the ATP Finals, learned from the experience and set out to improve.
“I think today I saw that I still have to improve, for sure. I think it makes me a better player, as all the other players I lost against have done. Now I have to work on this,” declared Sinner.
Jannik SinnerSinner won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open two months later, marking the beginning of the “Sincaraz” dominance era.
In 2025, Alcaraz and Sinner faced each other in the last three Grand Slam finals. Alcaraz won the French Open after an epic comeback, and Sinner frustrated Alcaraz’s attempt to achieve the triple at Wimbledon. Throughout the last eight Grand Slam tournaments, they have faced four other rivals in the finals: Djokovic, Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev, and Alexander Zverev (twice).
After losing to Sinner at the Australian Open in January, Zverev commented: “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to lift the trophy.”
Fritz, current world number 4, was pragmatic in his assessment of Sinner and Alcaraz.
“Both have improved a lot. They have taken giant steps in the last two years to become very dominant players,” Fritz said.
Some players have shown flashes of promise. In the seven Masters 1000 level events this year, Alcaraz has won three, while four other players (Jack Draper, Jakub Menšík, Casper Ruud, and Ben Shelton) have also achieved victories. Shelton, 22, has won three titles in his career, including the Canadian Masters last month.
Mary Joe Fernández, former world number 4 and analyst, says:
“I think those two now, over the next few years, are the ones to beat, [but] someone like Ben Shelton can interrupt them. I am very happy with his progress, seeing him develop as a player. I still think he has a lot of improvement to make”.
Mary Joe Fernández
Este año, Sinner ganó el Abierto de Australia y Wimbledon, mientras que Alcaraz se llevó los títulos de Wimbledon y el US Open.Shelton has only beaten Sinner once in seven encounters and has never defeated Alcaraz. He was forced to retire from his third-round match in New York due to a shoulder injury.
Joao Fonseca, a Brazilian teenager, is another name mentioned as a possible contender. John Isner believes Fonseca has the best chance to challenge the pair.
“I think Fonseca can get to the conversation,” Isner said.
John IsnerFor now, Sinner and Alcaraz seem to be in a league of their own. There is a gap of almost 5,000 points between them and the world number 3, Zverev, and the rest of the circuit.Con su victoria el domingo, Alcaraz asumirá el puesto número 1 del ranking de Sinner.During the US Open, both players demonstrated impressive dominance. Before the final, both had won at least 95% of their service games. Alcaraz won 98% of his service games and Sinner 42% of his return games. Each had three matches that lasted two hours or less. After Sinner defeated Alexander Bublik, the number 23 seed, in 81 minutes, Bublik congratulated Sinner.
Alcaraz’s opponents had similar feelings.
“Today I met the Grand Slam version of Carlos,” said Jiri Lehecka.
When they faced each other in Sunday’s final, it marked the second time in the Open Era that two men had split all the Grand Slam titles in two seasons, joining Federer and Nadal in 2006 and 2007. The pair became the first men in the Open Era to play in three consecutive Grand Slam finals in the same calendar year.
Tennis is an unpredictable sport. Medvedev seemed to be the successor to the “Big Three”, but in 2025 he only won one match in a Grand Slam.
While Medvedev could recover in 2026, and Sinner and Alcaraz show no signs of decline, the Russian’s current difficulties demonstrate how hard it is to maintain a high level for a prolonged period.
At the moment, although the pair are in a category of their own and are the clear favorites, the future is uncertain. And just as Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Juan Martín del Potro found a way to win in the era of Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal, there is also room for someone else to triumph.
“I think Sinner and Alcaraz will dominate for the next three or four years”, said Patrick McEnroe.
