Carlos Alcaraz is consistently playing at a level that many tennis analysts thought he might not be able to. There has never been a question about Alcaraz's greatness. Some simply wondered if he could sustain his elite play for 11 months a year.
In 2025, the Spaniard answered that to the affirmative. He might have had some dips in play, but not many, and every player does. Alcaraz now seems to have ascended to a level where he is peerless and will remain so from February through November.
Maybe in 2026, he will start well in January, too, but the Australian Open has always belonged to Novak Djokovic and now Jannik Sinner. If Alcaraz can begin next year with his first victory at the Grand Slam down under, he can certainly make a run at a calendar slam. It would also mean he had won six of the past seven majors.
Carlos Alcaraz reaches 2025 ATP Finals by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime
But we aren't there yet, and we aren't even done with 2025. He still has a match to play against Jannik Sinner at the ATP Finals. Alcaraz has already clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking, but he hasn't yet won the year-end event. Sinner took the trophy in 2024.
To set up the final, Alcaraz needed to dispatch Felix Auger-Aliassime in his semifinal match, and the Spaniard was playing far too pristine of tennis to be upset. Through the first nine games of the match, Alcaraz had only committed three unforced errors. Three.
Auger-Aliassime can serve with power and has a great forehand, but what he doesn't have, and no other player currently does either, is the movement and ability to hit with power while moving that Alcaraz and Sinner have. They are tennis freaks, and Auger-Aliassime is simply a good, mere mortal of a player.
Alcaraz got multiple breaks in the first set to take it easily, 6-2. The astonishing part was that the Canadian landed 81 percent of his first serves, but won only 48 percent of his first serve points. He wasn't playing badly, but being badly beaten by a better player.
In set two, Auger-Aliassime was able to keep pace with the Spaniard by playing some of his best tennis of his best year on tour. One might have felt that Alcaraz was simply one step from a break, however. Serving at 4-5, the Canadian made a couple of mistakes and fell to 0-30. The Spaniard was able to get the break to take the second set 6-4.
Carlos Alcaraz will now finish the year against his greatest rival, Jannik Sinner. Neither has lost a match at the 2025 ATP Finals yet, and an undefeated champion will take home a bit over $5 million. Either Sinner or Alcaraz will do that.