Carlos Alcaraz is a United States Open tennis champion for a second time. On Sunday, Alcaraz of El Palmar, Spain defeated Jannik Sinner of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a rather dominant display of tennis from the world number two. With the win, Alcaraz moved to number one in the world.
One reason why Alcaraz moved past Sinner is because of Sinner’s suspension in the spring. Alcaraz now has 11540 points on the ATP Tour, while Sinner has 10,780 points. Alcaraz’s lead is by 760 points. There is a much greater separation between the top two players in the world in women’s tennis than men’s tennis. On the women’s side, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus leads Iga Swiatek of Poland by 3292 points.
This was the third time this year Sinner played Alcaraz in a grand slam final. Alcaraz won the French Open, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. Sinner then won Wimbledon shortly afterwards, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Alcaraz had recently beaten Sinner in the Cincinnati final, as Sinner withdrew due to illness.
Alcaraz has now won six grand slam tennis titles. He previously won the United States Open in 2022, Wimbledon in 2023, the French Open in 2024, Wimbledon in 2024, and the French Open in 2025.
On Sunday, a major reason why Alcaraz won is because he served much better than Sinner. Alcaraz had 10 aces and zero double faults, and Sinner had two aces and four double faults. Alcaraz also broke Sinner five times in 11 opportunities.
At the beginning of the 2025 United States Open, you could have made the argument that Sinner was the slight favourite. However, as the tournament progressed, Alcaraz was clearly the more confident of the two. His straight set semifinal win over Serbia’s Novak Djokovic was as straightforward as any win on the tennis court could be.
