Throughout the 2025 ATP Finals, Jannik Sinner didn't drop a service game. Between the US Open in September and November's year-end event, the Italian revamped his serve, and it became a ridiculously great weapon against almost every player. Carlos Alcaraz is not just any player, though.
The final tournament for the year on the ATP tour finished as everyone thought. Sinner versus Alcaraz isn't just expected in the current era; it's expected. Anything else would likely mean one of the two best players in the world suffered an injury during the tournament.
In the final of the ATP Finals, Alcaraz did appear to suffer some kind of minor ailment. He needed a medical timeout in the first set, and a physio checked out his right thigh. The Spaniard kept playing, however, and he didn't seem to be affected by whatever the injury was.
Jannik Sinner stuns Carlos Alcaraz to win the 2025 ATP Finals
The first set was, as presumed before the match, brilliantly played. Each player held serve and wasn't pushed much, either. It was the individual points that became special. For every Alcaraz running forehand winner, Sinner matched it with a blistering backhand one.
Alcaraz had a couple of moments of iffiness, at least for him, and the Italian was able to steal the tie-break 7-4. Sinner's serve remained elite, just as it had throughout the match. If he was going to take the year-end event, his serve would need to continue to dominate.
At the start of the second set, though, Alcaraz, who had cemented his status as the year-end No. 1 by winning all of his round-robin matches, seemed to elevate his play and got a break of the Italian. The Italian crowd, firmly behind Jannik Sinner, seemed to groan in anticipation of what came next.
While Sinner's serve has been untouchable before the final, Alcaraz's serve has been nearly as good. If Sinner was broken, he would be forced to do the same to the Spaniard, and that was trending greatly toward being unlikely. A third set was probably forthcoming, and Carlos Alcaraz is nearly unbeatable in such situations.
Instead, returning serve at 2-3 and with a break point, Sinner mishit a couple of forehands, but it was enough to throw Alcaraz off from his normally bombastic shots, and the Italian stunningly got the break.
Whether each player was beginning to feel the weight of the match or simply dipping in form, Sinner would need to take advantage to defeat a player who had beaten him in seven of the past eight matches. But after breaking the Spaniard, he faced a break point in his next service game.
Instead, the Italian fought off the break and held. After getting to a lead at 6-5, he was able to get his second break of the match to earn the set 7-5 and take home the trophy for the ATP Finals for the second year in a row.
Jannik Sinner won't finish No. 1 in 2025, but after losing so much to Carlos Alcaraz recently, he needed the win as much for a moral boost and knowing he can beat the Spaniard in the future as anything else. The rivalry will define tennis for the next decade.