After a 2024 in which they had split the four grand slam titles and finished number one and two in the world, it was abundantly clear to tennis fans that the men’s tour had its two best players of a generation ready and raring to go in Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. However, the level of dominance that this young pair of superstars put on show in 2025 was scarcely believable, as they opened up a massive gulf between themselves and the next rank of challengers.
Sinner reached the grand slam final in all four events in 2025, winning at the Australian Open and then his first Wimbledon. Alcaraz snapped up the other two grand slams, repeating at the French Open and then the US Open, beating Sinner both times.
The world number one race went right down to the last tournament of the year, the Nitto ATP Finals, where Alcaraz reached the final and sealed the year-end number one – but subsequently lost the fifth-most important match of the year to his great rival.
Only 550 ranking points separate Alcaraz from Sinner heading into 2026. After that, there is a 6340 point gap to world number three Alexander Zverev. Their dominance is not something that needs to be mentioned – but looking back, the question does arise: who was it had the better year in 2025?
The trophy count
On top of their grand slam titles, two of each, Sinner and Alcaraz also tasted success at the Masters 1000 level. Here, Alcaraz has the rub of the green, having won three events in Monte Carlo, Rome, and finally Cincinnati. He beat Sinner in Rome, where the Italian was making a return from his doping suspension, and in Cincy, where Sinner retired after one set due to sickness.
Sinner, meanwhile, won the Paris Masters event right at the end of the year. With 8 calendar titles to Sinner’s 6, Alcaraz holds the edge – but it must be remembered that Sinner was unavailable for the first four Masters events of the year, and ultimately only played at four out of nine 1000-level events in total.
Alcaraz vs Sinner head-to-head in 2025
The head-to-head is where Alcaraz opens up some daylight. In 2024, Sinner beat Alcaraz twice, but the Spaniard had the better of his rival on 4 occasions. This includes the finals of the US Open and the historic French Open. In Paris, Alcaraz famously came back from two sets and three match points down to pull off the result, in what will be remembered as one of the best grand slam matches of all time.
Alcaraz had the rub of the green over Sinner after the US Open final, but the Italian vowed to step up his game and come back stronger for the next time he faced his rival, with more variety and unpredictability. He did exactly that, completing a straight-sets drubbing of Alcaraz to win the ATP Finals in Turin this weekend.
Overall 2025 record
For the second consecutive year, Jannik Sinner completed a season with a 90+% win percentage. He became only the second man in the Open Era after Roger Federer to achieve that feat, as he finished with a 58-6 record. Of those 6 losses, 4 came to Alcaraz, with an upset at the hands of Alexander Bublik and a mid-match injury retirement at the Shanghai Masters the only two marks against his record.
Alcaraz, however, wasn’t far behind his rival: with significantly more matches played, Alcaraz finished 71-9, for a very healthy 88.75% record on the year. On top of the two losses to Sinner, he also lost the Australian Open quarterfinal to Novak Djokovic, as well as matches against Jiri Lehecka, Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz, David Goffin, Cameron Norrie, and Jack Draper.
Sinner had more consistency across the year, looking practically unbeatable against anyone not named Alcaraz, just as he had in 2024. While Alcaraz played and won a lot more, he also had his number called on bad days by lower-ranked opponents.
The verdict comes down to the intangibles
If you account for Sinner’s unavailability through suspension for two-plus months at the start of the season, this pair of players are inseparable. Sinner had the consistency and the aura of dominance over the rest of the tour, but Alcaraz at his best was untouchable, reaching nine finals in a row in the middle of the year – a feat only bettered by Federer and Djokovic in the past.
When the numbers don’t provide an easy answer, it becomes about questioning the sentiment and the narrative that surrounds these two players. Alcaraz showed that he can achieve and maintain his incredible peaks against a high calibre of opposition, tamping down on the volatility that his high-risk high-reward tennis previously contained.
Ultimately, Sinner might never have conceded his world number one ranking to Alcaraz if he had played the entire year, the 550-point being easy to make up across the 4 or 5 tournaments he missed. But Alcaraz’s mental strength and tenacity shone as he continued to sharpen up his game and add elements, such as a better serve and an airtight ground game in the big moments, to snatch away the number one ranking with a big win in New York.
It’s the dealer’s choice when it comes to who had the better 2025 – but an imperious nine-tournament run between the start of April and the end of September, where he reached all nine finals and won seven tournaments, sees our nod just about go to Alcaraz.
