Mumbai: They have hopped from one tournament to another sharing a chartered flight in China last year. They’ve run into each other dining at the same restaurant in New York this fortnight. They’ve walked on court together seven times in the past 18 months.
The tennis world can’t get enough of Jannik Sinner versus Carlos Alcaraz. Have they had enough of each other lately?
“Off court, we bump into each other occasionally, I don’t know if we’re happy or not,” Sinner said with a chuckle. “On court, we like to see each other, because it means that we are doing well in tournaments.”
“Doing well” is the ultimate understatement. So good have Alcaraz, 22, and Sinner, 24, been in Grand Slams this year that they’ve confined the 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, a 24-time major champion who not too long ago was running his own race of greatness, effectively to an also-ran in three back-to-back tournaments.
And so they meet again – halt Djokovic in a semi-final again – in a Grand Slam final again.
Sinner, the Wimbledon champion and world No.1, takes on Alcaraz, the French Open champion and world No.2, for the US Open title. With added context this time: the top ranking is also at stake.
If it was Sinner who took down Djokovic in straight sets in Paris and London, it was Alcaraz in New York, with as much proficiency. Save for an early second-set dip, the sparkling Spaniard was a few levels above the drained Serb in every aspect in his 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2 semi-final victory, a first for Alcaraz over Djokovic on hard courts.
Then as the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights took shape, so did the prospect of the anticipated final. This despite the spirited Felix Auger-Aliassime’s second-set burst and Sinner’s physical bother that was soon quelled in their 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 semi-final.
For the third Slam running, Alcaraz and Sinner will compete in a final (a first for two male players in the same season in the Open era). For eight tournaments running, going back to Monte Carlo in April, Alcaraz will compete in a final. For five Slams running, dating back to his triumphant 2024 US Open, Sinner will compete in a final.
“Amazing stats,” said Sinner, 24, of being only the fourth man in the Open era, after Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Djokovic, to reach all Slam finals in a year. “Five straight Grand Slam finals is something great… the consistency and putting myself there in the later stages.”
Alcaraz, 22, also isn’t a novice in the later stages. Yet, there’s been a difference about the five-time Slam champion’s march to that stage in this season-ending Slam.
Notorious for his mid-match volatility in the level of play, Alcaraz hasn’t dropped a set all tournament, becoming the first man since Federer in 2015 to make the US Open final with such straight-sets efficiency.
Continuing to dish out his flair-filled craft, Alcaraz has also been locked in mentally. “It’s something I’m working on, the consistency – in matches, tournaments, and the year in general. Just not having ups and downs, to keep that level really high during the whole match,” Alcaraz said. “Probably I’m just getting more mature.”
And more lethal in his serving. Sinner singled out the first strike as Alcaraz’s biggest improvement over the last couple of years. Over the last two weeks, Alcaraz is second on the list of most first serve points won among men at a polished 84%, only behind big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. That percentage remained the same against Djokovic (who was at 66%).
“Probably this is the best feeling I have had in a tennis tournament, or in a year,” Alcaraz said of his serve.
He would do well to keep the serve quality and numbers as high against Sinner, tournament leader for most beak points converted (35).
No one has been able to break the Italian’s match-winning streak on hard courts, which has surged to 27 (all-time second, tied with Djokovic) and gobbled up the last three Slams on that surface.
Sinner hasn’t quite blazed away at this US Open – he dropped a set against Denis Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime – but has remained too hot enough for most. He sought a medical timeout after the second set of the semi-final having felt “small twitching in the stomach after a serve”. “Nothing to worry about”, he though said later.
Sinner’s physically, incidentally, was singled out by Alcaraz as the biggest uptick from their past meetings to now. The man himself tends to agree.
“Back in the days I was maybe struggling a little bit if we go three or four sets. Now I feel fine,” he said.
The French Open final was a five-set Alcaraz Houdini act. The Wimbledon final was a four-set Sinner clinic. The US Open final brings another Alcaraz-Sinner showdown.
“He is someone who pushes me to the limit. We have faced each other a lot lately,” said Sinner. He added tongue-in-cheek: “But yeah, sometimes it’s also nice to not play against him.”
