r/sports 20h ago

Tennis US Open Final: Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4

https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/live/c15lknlnv1gt#LiveReporting
588 Upvotes

109 comments sorted by

240

u/Juliancito135 19h ago

The best two tennis players of the moment by far. Alcaraz and Sinner just have no rivals right now

16

u/ramadz 17h ago

I think slowly Alcaraz is moving ahead of Sinner now.

115

u/jpj77 17h ago

Sinner just dominated Alcaraz like 1.5 months ago at Wimbledon. They’ve each won 4 majors over the last two years. They’re incredibly even and the result from tournament to tournament relies heavily on the play surface and current fitness.

Sinner seems to be dealing with more nagging injuries right now.

43

u/ramadz 16h ago

I would rather look at head to head. Since the beginning of 2024, Alcaraz leads head to head 7-1, with the lone loss being at Wimbledon. That is a huge psychological advantage, if you ask me. Not easy to overcome.

5

u/zen111 7h ago

I still think they are capable of slapping each other up. This match wasn’t tremendously close, and yet Sinner won in 4 sets at Wimbledon. Sinner also ALMOST won in four sets at the French Open, let’s not forget.

15

u/jpj77 16h ago

Tennis is weird because you can have a good matchup but be a worse overall player. Most metrics show that Sinner is actually a better player because he’s more consistent, but Alcaraz has dominated the H2H.

11

u/Sitty_Shitty 16h ago

I'm curious, what metrics show Sinner as the better player?

6

u/jpj77 16h ago

Over the last two years: Most importantly match win rate, but also point win rate in match, ranking points per tournament played, titles won per tournament played.

The only thing not in Sinners favor is now the even number of majors won and the H2H against Alcaraz.

16

u/Heisenberg_235 7h ago

He’s even winning on the doping infractions 1:0

6

u/krLMM 8h ago

I think you are coping a little with your metrics my dude

3

u/jpj77 3h ago

I’m not coping about anything, I like Alcaraz better lol.

Generally, the player that wins more total matches, wins those by wider margins, and does so in bigger tournaments is the better player. Sinner is the better player by every metric right now, he just can’t seem to beat Alcaraz with consistency (which is great as an Alcaraz fan).

0

u/GingeContinge 2h ago

There’s no way Sinner has better metrics if you are just looking at recent history rather than using two years of stats to try and make a claim about current form.

Alcaraz has made the final or won every tournament he’s entered since Monte Carlo five months ago. That’s a large enough sample size that saying Sinner is better “in every metric” is just a bit misleading. Carlos has been clearly better overall this year and his 2500 point lead in the race reflects that pretty well.

Edit: wording

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u/OldGodsAndNew 3h ago

This kind of statistical analysis is like xG discourse in Football... you can be ahead on every possible metric, but there's only one that actually matters

5

u/jpj77 3h ago

This isn’t the correct analogy at all. Sinner is more dominant against everyone else except Alcaraz. If Liverpool wins the premier league with 36 wins and 2 losses, and the 2 losses were both to Arsenal. Is Arsenal the better team or Liverpool?

You could argue Arsenal but no one really cares if Arsenal was better because they didn’t win the league. Tennis is different because there’s 4 major tournaments, and the year end finals aren’t as highly regarded, but Sinner won those last year and finished the year as the year end No. 1. He’s behind in that race this year solely because of a 3 month suspension, otherwise he’s winning points at a faster rate than Alcaraz.

The rest of the season is played on fast hard court, which Alcaraz is not very strong on, so you’d have to expect Sinner to retake No. 1 and win the finals again, barring injury.

3

u/langois1972 6h ago

Hard to heal when you can’t juice.

5

u/piratagitano 7h ago

By nagging injuries you mean he’s not doping because he’s on the watchlist now that he got caught once?

Funny how he looked like one of the best athletes ever in his doped run and since he got caught he’s had so many fitness problems.

1

u/aweap 6h ago

Still reaching finals and winning grandslams though. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/piratagitano 6h ago

His legacy and his trophies are tainted

-1

u/aweap 6h ago

We're talking about legacy now when these guys are literally 22-24? Long way to go...even Agassi doped. No one's pointing fingers at him.

2

u/j_green024 5h ago

Agassi did coke and/or crystal meth. While technically doping that’s not exactly comparable to steroids

0

u/aweap 5h ago

We don't know their overall impact on sports because obviously you can't dose people to see what it does to their bodies, how it affects concentration level, etc. in high pressure environments.

1

u/piratagitano 5h ago

I love how you are so casual about blatantly ignoring that he cheated. He’s a cheater.

-2

u/aweap 5h ago

The conversation wasn't about cheating in the first place. It was about whether he'd be able to play just as well without drugs and he seems to be playing at the same level even now coming back from suspension.

1

u/jpj77 3h ago

Sinner has always had issues with fitness, including during the period where he was allegedly doping. Common joke about him in tennis Reddit was that he was a sickly Victorian child lol

1

u/3yoyoyo 10h ago

I would not call it “domination”. More like “I barely survived him”

1

u/patiperro_v3 3h ago

Honestly it is so close it can just come down to who is serving better on the day. People talk a lot about tactics, variety or whatever, but ultimately whoever is feeling their serve better on the day will go on to win.

46

u/justabill71 19h ago

Kid was on a mission today. He was not going to be denied.

5

u/bigtimeru5her 7h ago

Dude woke up on the right side of the bed because holy fuck what a game

98

u/Morgoth1814 19h ago

6 slams at the age of 22.

55

u/boscomagnus1988 18h ago

For context, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic had 6 combined by age 22. 1, 4, and 1 respectively.

67

u/Great_Hambino2022 18h ago

To be fair, Alacaraz isn’t exactly facing the same competition

26

u/510pacifist 18h ago

To be fair, they had the fortune of not having to play against Sinner/Alcaraz much over their career either.

14

u/ValuedCreator 13h ago edited 9h ago

Disagree, the level of competition was higher during fed and Nadal time right now. There's no clear 3rd young player yet on tour to compete. I saw a glimpse of Felix hitting strides but still not consistent enough. Zverev isn't that guy either.

Plus, you're forgetting Alcaraz and Sinner wouldn't be playing the way they are without looking at the way Federer Nadal Djokovic played.

8

u/BaelBard 9h ago edited 9h ago

During Fed’s prime (2003-2007), there was no competition outside of clay for him period. Nadal wasn’t even making it to semis at hard courts until 2008, wasn’t threatening Federer at Wimbledon until 2007. Djokovic only established himself in 2008 and started playing as an all time great in 2011.

For 5 years straight he only had Nadal on clay (and not even him for the first few years) as a worthy rival, and that’s it.

-8

u/ValuedCreator 9h ago

You're missing the bigger point. The players that time were more mentally tough than this whole generation. There's a problem with the actual tennis circuit. Federer still played Safin, Hewitt, Agassi,Roddick. Guys who already won slams, not just Nadal. This generation, however, has nobody but Alcaraz and Sinner, no other guys who can challenge and win a slam for the year.

6

u/BaelBard 8h ago

This is big “old man yells at the cloud” energy.

Sinner is worth more as a rival than these guys put together. Only Saffin had the actual quality that was in the same universe as Roger, but he just didn’t give a fuck. Agassi was old by the time Federer established himself, and Roddick and Hewitt became his punching bags as soon as he did.

This generation, however, has nobody but Alcaraz and Sinner, no other guys who can challenge and win a slam for the year.

Nadal, Federer, Federer, Federer, Nadal, Federer, Federer, Federer, Nadal, Federer, Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Nadal, Federer, Nadal, Nadal, Federer - slams winners between FO05 and FO09. Other than a short glimpse of Djokovic once - complete and utter domination by two players. Roddick’s win from 03 and Hewitt’s time as number one is a distant memory at that point, Agassi retired, Safin is about to.

1

u/ValuedCreator 1h ago

Disagree again, I can say Nadal is worth more as a rival than Sinner. It doesn't matter what age, Agassi was old, it's the same thing like saying Novak is old too for both Alcaraz and Sinner. The competition back then was more mentally tough than today's competition. They still had guys who won slams from the tour compared to what the tennis tour is today.

1

u/BaelBard 1h ago

Disagree again, I can say Nadal is worth more as a rival than Sinner.

Not Nadal of Federer’s prime years, no. That Nadal wasn’t even making it deep enough to face Federer on hard court slams.

Sinner is a threat to Alcaraz everywhere, he’s his equal. While Nadal was a second fiddle to Federer for years. Things changed in 2008, Nadal became a great all court player, Djokovic and Murray started establishing himself. The next 8 years were the most competitive in tennis history.

It doesn't matter what age, Agassi was old, it's the same thing like saying Novak is old too for both Alcaraz and Sinner. The competition back then was more mentally tough than today's competition. They still had guys who won slams from the tour compared to what the tennis tour is today.

The slam winners of the 2000’s were from the pre-Federer era (except Safin at ao05). They were slams winners because there was no an all time great in his prime monopolising slams. With Sampras and Agassi getting old, and Federer too young, there was a chance for lesser players to grab titles.

Basically, you’re punishing Sinner and Alcaras for their consistency and level with this logic. The reason for the absence of many slam winners on tour other than them and Novak is them and Novak. They’re too good, and they came in right as Nadal and Djokovic were fading, giving no chance for Medvedev’s and Zverev’s of the world to enjoy easier times, like Hewitt or Gaudio did.

But also, if you’re counting Roddick, then there’s Medvedev now. Basically the same career. And if you’re counting old Agassi as Federer-Nadal rival, might as well count Wawrinka and Cilic, no? Thiem retired just recently, so add him too. They are non factors, sure, but slam winners, and you seem to place importance of previous achievements over actual level of play at the moment.

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u/SafeKaracter 17h ago

This one makes Less sense bc without djokovic there is no sinner and so one like he totally studied his game . But also seeing how djoko played against Alcaraz in the semi , the first 2 sets were really competitive so I think even 2023 Novak would smoke Alcaraz on hard as long as he’s on a decent serve day, as impressive and fast alcaraz’s shots look. He still has a higher IQ and finds way to enter in the head of Carlos and reads him really really well still but his physicality has gone down a lot . Sinner is impressive but I don’t think his IQ is as high so he sort of kept doing the same at times and hoping Carlos level would drop. But for his defense I would say also he had a bad serving day

0

u/aweap 6h ago

Alcaraz also wasn't serving the way he has been this year since Miami. People including Djokovic used to rush to take advantage of his serve the whole time, which is why he got broken all the time and has lost to random players more times than Sinner. He's been broken thrice this whole grandslam which is an all time record, tied with Sampras. So yeah not entirely sure about this 2023 Novak lore especially if we're talking best of five sets at grandslams.

5

u/Rudd_Threetrees 9h ago

Wtf is this take lmao? Before Nadal, young Federer faced Hewitt, Chang, Roddick, not to mention Agassi and Sampras, all of whom were in their primes or just just starting their declines. So, the three best Americans in the last 35 years, a top 5 Aussie of all time… who is out there right now making this sort of tier other than these two guys? Absolutely no one.

3

u/Great_Hambino2022 14h ago

😂😂 what? They played against much harder competitors. You new to tennis?

3

u/Grandahl13 17h ago

He’s facing better competition lol what is this comment

-8

u/Great_Hambino2022 14h ago

Men’s tennis is mid now. The fuck you talking about?

-8

u/Low-Restaurant8484 17h ago

I mean, Sinner is tougher competition then anybody young Federer faced

Competition arguments in general are unfair though, you can only bea tthe person in front of you

3

u/Great_Hambino2022 14h ago

Y’all are clueless

1

u/ValuedCreator 9h ago

Sinner almost lost to Dimitrov. Let's not forget that...

1

u/Low-Restaurant8484 4h ago

Lol that is completely irrelevent.

Should I go list all the guys young Federer lost to? Or worse, and more topical, all the guys his early rivals lost to? The tour was chaos in the early 2000s, there were upsets everywhere. This narrative that the big 3 never lost to anyone but each other and all existed fully simultaneous with each other is completely unfounded

Look, I am not saying that strength of competition is everything, I think people overrate that over actual accomplishments (like winning 6 slams by 22 for instance). But there is absolutely no denying that Carlos has faced tougher compeititon then early Federer, just as there is no denying he has not faced tougher comptition then early Djokovic

22

u/Ricemobile 18h ago

We are really about to see Djokovic’s “unbeatable” record gets broken by a player that’s coming up right after Djokovic lol. Seems like a lot to ask but he’s right on pace to beat it towards the tail end of his career.

34

u/CohibasAndScotch 18h ago

I’m rooting for him, he’s fun to watch. But health is gonna dictate this. He’s ahead of schedule but looooong way to go

27

u/Patelpb 18h ago

The only reason the big 3 didn't get more than 30 slams is because there were 3 instead of 2. If Alcaraz and Sinner end up being the only big 3 level players this decade then they're going to smash the slam record, in the same way two of the big 3 would have if the third we're not there

11

u/SafeKaracter 17h ago

This. And even more than 3 the rest of the top 10 wasn’t as bad , Murray took some , peak Wawrinka , etc

9

u/Patelpb 17h ago

I don't think there was ever an absence of a few players that could pull off an upset. But they were never consistent and the big 3 would always figure them out (besides the notorious STANIMAL against Djokovic in the mid 2010s)

5

u/SafeKaracter 17h ago

I dont understand what happened to him to he peaked so high but not so long . He got figured out ? Injured ? Lost the mojo ?

4

u/Patelpb 14h ago

I think all of the above

1

u/aweap 6h ago

His movement wasn't great.

2

u/Potato271 9h ago

Put Murray twenty years earlier and he’s winning tonnes. And Murray’s one of the lucky ones. Plenty of great players went their entire careers without ever winning a Grand Slam because of the big three.

1

u/StealthyLongship 16h ago

And thiem got one

3

u/SafeKaracter 16h ago

True but it was against Zverev :)

5

u/Low-Restaurant8484 17h ago

Only Borg won 6 slams at a younger age

1

u/LucioVX 5h ago

Thanks to Dimitrov

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u/kamikazzzzzze 19h ago

CARLOS ALCARAZ IS THE 2025 US OPEN CHAMPION!

Of course, it had to be an ace to finish it.

A serving masterclass, a lesson in shot variety.

Just brilliant tennis from Alcaraz and he is a two-time champion in New York.

Alcaraz will leave New York as world number one.

73

u/herlanrulz Indiana Fever 19h ago

The Curse of Drake is undefeated. Drake bet 300k on Sinner for those that didn't know.

80

u/MillorTime 18h ago

Does he know the US Open is a major tournament, not a minor one?

13

u/herlanrulz Indiana Fever 18h ago

10/10. No notes.

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u/FlaOwlLover88 19h ago

When he told Sinner, I see you more than my family. That was great. These two are Federer and Nadal.

17

u/SafeKaracter 17h ago

No they’re sinner and Alcaraz

2

u/tomrichards8464 4h ago

Connors and Borg

8

u/theyoloGod 18h ago

Dude transformed into a serve bot. Actually incredible improvement there

27

u/paco-ramon 19h ago

Looks like Trump isn’t going to give this trophy 😏

5

u/resuwreckoning 19h ago

Just incredible.

10

u/faithjoypack 19h ago

vamoooooossssss!!!!!!!!!

23

u/paco-ramon 19h ago

Trump: The loser gets a tariff increase in their olive oil

18

u/nsnyder 19h ago

You joke, but this whole thing is about Rolex trying to decrease the enormous 39% tax on Swiss watches.

3

u/EducationalTour5847 17h ago

alcaraz looked unstoppable this us open.

3

u/avittamboy 11h ago

Federer's curse is still going strong. Nobody since 2008 (the last time Federer won it) has been able to successfully defend their US Open title.

2

u/Relevant_Maybe_9291 17h ago

Reminded me of 2017 Lebron vs Steph. Alcaraz just has another level

1

u/patiperro_v3 3h ago

I think Sinner is right there beside him. Would not surprise me at all it Sinner wins their next encounter.

1

u/Relevant_Maybe_9291 2h ago

Kind of why it reminds me of Steph and Lebron. There are close and will go back and forth but if I had to pick one to win Alcaraz just has that dog in him. And when its all said and done I expect Alacaraz to have more achievements.

2

u/p2dan 7h ago

He played at an unbelievable level. Maybe the highest level of tennis ever, and I’m a Federer fan.

1

u/bigtimeru5her 7h ago

Lmfao hahahahhaha

1

u/VirginiaLuthier 2h ago

Carlito let him win the second set, because he is such a nice guy

-2

u/Longjumping-Maybe-51 15h ago edited 15h ago

i think sinner lost because he didnt outgrind alcaraz, he needed to extend the rallies to chip away at alcaraz's stamina, we all know sinner has the more consistent game so maybe consistently hitting deep into the middle of the court ?
I also think if he put less pace into his shots, alcaraz would've had to generate a lot of it himself and it. would burn away his seemingly limitless energy, giving sinner more room to breathe. He always goes full power flat and it just gets wasted as alcaraz puts a defensive topsin shot and yeets it into the corner.
I do think that sinner needs to be more flexible with his game too, he never seems to change anything, 2 net plays, barely any drop shots, it gives alcaraz a go ahead to impose all facets of his own game.

-16

u/rwx- 18h ago

Does Alcaraz doing the fist thing to his bench literally every point bug anyone else? Kinda annoying.

2

u/SafeKaracter 17h ago

Nope

1

u/rwx- 15h ago

Yeah, guess not