“Sincaraz” – the ongoing dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner - was the dominant story in men’s tennis for the second year in a row.
Alcaraz and Sinner combined to win all four of the Grand Slams for the second year in a row and traded the No. 1 ranking back and forth throughout all of 2025. “Sincaraz” was the biggest story of 2025, but not the only story.
There were more records and milestones for Novak Djokovic. There were breakthrough performances for exciting young players. There were inspiring runs by underdogs. There were thrilling matches all over the world. It was hard to pick just 25 important moments from the 2025 men’s tennis season.
The 25 most important moments of 2025
#25 – Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic won his 101st career title with a three-set win against Lorenzo Musetti in the final of the Hellenic Open in Athens. This result would have eliminated Musetti from the ATP Finals – and this match would have ranked a lot higher on this list - except Djokovic then withdrew from the year-end championships, sending Musetti to Turin after all.
#24 – Italian tennis dominance
How dominant is Italy on the world tennis scene? Italy won its third consecutive Davis Cup – and didn’t even need Sinner, who sat out the event due to injury.
#23 – Learner Tien's rise
Learner Tien’s upset win against Daniil Medvedev in the second round was the biggest upset of this year’s Australian Open and was a precursor of things to come for both players. Tien, who had to qualify for Australia, finished the year ranked No. 28. Medvedev lost in the first round at the next three majors and finished outside the top 10 for the first time since 2018.
#22 – All the different 500 event winners
Denis Shapovalov (Dallas), Alcaraz (Rotterdam, Queens and Tokyo), Andrey Rublev (Qatar), Sebastian Baez (Rio), Stefanos Tsitsipas (Dubai), Tomas Machac (Acapulco), Holger Rune (Barcelona), Alexander Zverev (Munich), Flavio Cobolli (Hamburg), Alexander Bublik (Halle), Alex de Minaur (Washington), Joao Fonseca (Basel) and Sinner (Beijing and Vienna) all won ATP 500-level events.
#21 – Joao Fonseca's big win
This is a bet that within a few years, we’ll remember Fonseca’s upset win against No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev at the Australian Open and his maiden ATP title at the Argentina Open as significant events that happened in 2025. Fonseca, just 19, finished the year ranked No. 24. He’s the only teen in the top 25.
#20 – Alexander Zverev's slide
Zverev advanced past Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals when the latter was forced to retire due to a hamstring tear. It turned out to be the high point of Zverev’s season. Sinner beat him in three sets in the final. Zverev didn’t reach the final at a Grand Slam or Masters event the rest of the year.
#19 – Felix Auger-Aliassime trending up
Felix Auger-Aliassime was arguably the third-best player in the world over the last third months of the year, with semifinal appearances at the U.S. Open and season-ending ATP Finals. Auger-Aliassime was the No. 25 seed entering the U.S. Open, where he beat Zverev in the third round to kick-start a sizzling stretch that propelled him to No. 5 by the end of the season.
Memories from the Masters 1000 events
#18 – Cincinnati letdown
Alcaraz won his third ATP Masters 1000 event of 2025 in an anti-climactic fashion. Alcaraz led 5-0 when Sinner had to retire due to illness just minutes into the final in Cincinnati.
#17 – Disappointment for Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud had previously played in Grand Slam finals and reached No. 2 in the world. He had not won an ATP Masters 1000 event – until he took the title in Madrid this spring. The win highlighted an otherwise disappointing season for Ruud, who finished the year No. 12 in the world.
#16 – Jack Draper's half-season excellence
Jack Draper took the title at Indian Wells for his first ATP Masters 1000 title. Draper beat Holger Rune in the first meeting of players born in the 2000s in a Masters 1000 final. Draper rose to No. 4 in the world before injuries ruined the second half of his 2025 season.
#15 – Ben Shelton's story
Ben Shelton won three of his six matches in third-set tiebreakers – including the final against Karen Khachanov - to claim the title at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Canada. Shelton became the first American since 2022 to win an ATP 1000 event, helped by a depleted field at an event that started just two weeks after Wimbledon.
#14 – Jakub Mensik stuns Djokovic
It was a matchup of the ages in the final of the ATP 1000 Masters event in Miami. Nineteen-year-old Jakub Mensik delayed Novak Djokovic’s 100th tournament title by defeating the 37-year-old favorite in two rain-delayed tiebreaks.
#13 – Carlos Alcaraz's somewhat slow start
Alcaraz put together a ho-hum season, by his standards, through the first three months of 2025. He set the tone for what became a dominant clay-court season with a victory in Monte Carlo in the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the spring European swing.
#12 – A short change at the top
It’ll go into the record books as an event where the No. 1 ranking changed hands – albeit briefly. Therefore, we have to rank Sinner’s indoor title in Paris in November in the last ATP Masters 1000 event of 2025 in the top half of this list.
#11 - A family affair
After getting into the main draw as a qualifier – rallying from a set down in both of his qualifying matches - world No. 204 Valentin Vacherot pulled off seven upsets in a row to win the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai. Vacherot defeated his first cousin and college teammate Arthur Rincherknech in an unlikely final. Vacherot became the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP Masters 1000 event.
#10 – A new hope
Alcaraz spoiled Sinner’s return to the tour after three months of ineligibility (more on that at No. 2) with a two-set win in the final in Rome - Sinner’s home-country ATP Masters event. The two would meet again before the end of the clay-court season.
Moments and milestones
#9 – Djokovic joins another elite group
Djokovic joined Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer as the only players with 100 tour-level titles when he won the Geneva Open in May. Djokovic finished the year ranked No. 4, breaking a tie with Federer and Rafael Nadal for most career top-four finishes.
#8 – Alcaraz gets back to the top
Alcaraz sealed the year-end No. 1 ranking by winning his first three matches at the year-end ATP Finals. He became the first player whose first two year-end No. 1 performances came two years apart. Alcaraz needed all three of those wins because …
#7 – ATP Finals
… Sinner won 2025’s final installment of the “Sincaraz” rivalry in a taut ATP Finals title match, to the delight of Sinner’s home-country fans in Italy. Sinner won the tour’s season-ending event for the second time in a row.
The Slams (and a suspension)
#6 – Sinner down under
Sinner started 2025 the same way he started 2024 – with a dominant run to the Australian Open title. Sinner’s three-set win against Zverev in the final was only memorable because it proved to be the only major final in 2025 that didn’t feature both Sinner and Alcaraz.
#5 – Grigor Dimitrov gets hurt at the worst time
In a year full of significant injuries, none was more significant than Grigor Dimitrov's withdrawal due to a pectoral injury after winning the first two sets against Sinner in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon. As a result …
#4 - Sinner claims England
… Sinner went on to claim his first title at the All-England Club. He dethroned two-time defending champion Alcaraz with a four-set triumph in the final.
#3 – Alcaraz claims New York
Alcaraz’s level of play in winning his second US Open was arguably the best of anyone’s in 2025. Alcaraz won his sixth major and took over the No. 1 ranking with a dominant run in New York. He saved his best for last with a four-set win against Sinner in the final, ending the latter’s 27-match winning streak in hard-court Grand Slam matches.
#2 – Sinner's suspension
Unfortunately, an off-court event was probably the second-most-important event of the year. Sinner sat out three months in the spring, accepting three months of ineligibility in connection with two positive tests for banned substances and finally ending a controversy that had raged for months. The suspension probably cost Sinner the year-end No. 1 ranking.
#1 – And the most important event of 2025 was...
Of course, the top spot goes to Alcaraz’s epic win against Sinner in the French Open final. If a match is one of the best of all time, it has to be the most important of the year! Alcaraz survived three match points and rallied from two sets down to beat Sinner in five hours and 29 minutes for his second consecutive title at Roland Garros.