The two of them, then the whole world. Far behind. This season, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Italian Jannik Sinner, world number one and two respectively, established their dominance on the ATP circuit. If 2024 is the season when their rivalry emerges, then 2025 will be the season of confirmation. Symbolically, the season ended with their sixth joint final of the year and the Italian’s coronation in front of his Turin crowd in the ATP Masters final on Sunday 16 November. The final of this season’s eight best players brought together the top two players in the ATP rankings for the first time in nine years. After the reign of the Big 3, the men’s circuit is now dominated by a two-headed monster.
By 2025, they would leave nothing but scraps for their enemies. And the numbers are truly dizzying. This season, Jannik Sinner achieved 58 wins with six losses (excluding exhibitions), or 90% wins (Carlos Alcaraz achieved 91% wins with 70 games won with only eight losses) and quickly made people forget his three-month suspension at the start of the year after a positive clostebol test.
Nobody does it better. As in 2024, the two circuit leaders share the Grand Slam tournament trophy. Australian Open and Wimbledon for Sinner, Roland-Garros and US Open for Alcaraz. “Between them, they have won five times more Grand Slam titles (2 vs. 10) than any other player born since the early 90s” even though they are only 24 and 22 years old respectively, says Constance Sénac de Monsembernard, statistics specialist in the world of the little yellow ball and “Games, sets and mathematics” on the social network X.
“No one is stronger than another, estimates Nicolas Escudé, former top 20 player and consultant for Eurosport. They each worry about the other on the surface of being perceived as dominant. At Roland Garros, although Sinner was considered less comfortable on clay, he led two rounds to no avail and never lost in this final, which was ultimately won by Alcaraz. Just like at Wimbledon where we thought the Spaniard would definitely win while Sinner ultimately won without debate.” The thinking was similar to the US Open, which Alcaraz won, on a surface that suited the Italian’s ideal playing surface.
This season, the two players are not only storming the Majors, they are taking over everything they find on their journey. In the combined 19 tournaments contested since 2024, the title has only been lost once, namely at the Masters 1000 in Madrid in 2024. The Italian withdrew and Carlos Alcaraz lost to Russian Andrey Rublev.
In 2025 alone, Jannik Sinner achieved his second most productive season after 2024 and his eight titles, despite being suspended, with six titles (ATP Masters, Australian Open, Wimbledon, Masters 1000 in Paris, Vienna and Beijing) and four defeats in finals. Carlos Alcaraz, holder of eight titles, has never lifted so many trophies in one season (Rotterdam, Monte-Carlo, Rome, Roland-Garros, Queen’s, Cincinnati, US Open, Tokyo and two defeats in the final).
“Their dominance is quite logical because they are much stronger than their competitors, and so far, like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, analysis of Arnaud Clément, former world top 10 and consultant for franceinfo: sport. They are truly superior to the rest in many areas, with very different styles, and what is amazing is their consistency in managing to be top performers. Even when they were a little weaker, they won, and this was also the case in previous generations.” No player has been able to win two Masters 1000s this year despite a stalemate (success for Jack Draper, Jakub Mensik, Casper Ruud, Ben Shelton and Valentin Vacherot).
“For them, there is no other rivalry. If they play well, they win. They don’t need to reach their best level, except when facing each other.”
Arnaud Clément, former top 10on franceinfo: sport
In the ATP rankings, Alcaraz and Sinner are close to each other (550 points) and the world’s third player, Alexander Zverev, is almost 5,000 points behind in second, half of Jannik Sinner’s nest egg (11,500 versus 5,160 for the German). “Sinner and Alcaraz rose, and at the back, the competition couldn’t keep up: Zverev, who however had the weapons to do it, couldn’t do it. Ben Shelton could have tickled them this season but suffered a setback at the end of the tour of America due to injury. Daniil Medvedev will return to the forefront a bit, or even Félix Auger-Aliassime who had a good end to the season. But they are still way ahead at the moment”, notes Nicolas Escudé.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner too “both are still undefeated against the other six 2025 Masters participants (excluding Laver Cup) with a total of 30 wins”, Game, Set and Mathematics notes. “When we are faced with better players, it can be a locomotive to give ourselves a benchmark to work from. But some, like Zverev, are no longer capable of reaching a higher level.” supported Arnaud Clément, before adding: “When Sinner and Alcaraz managed to put their game in place, they pressed points that were slightly weaker than their opponents. And right now, we don’t see the competition being able to react to that.” What’s worse, it sometimes appears “resignation form” competition, admits Nicolas Escudé, which gives the impression of giving up even before playing.
And the gap could widen even further. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner continue to widen the gap, both improving, but not yet reaching the glass ceiling. “Carlos Alcaraz has managed to stabilize what I would call his average level. Previously, he was already able to play at a level that no one else could match, and sometimes miss certain matches, or parts of matches. This is his biggest improvement this season”, notes Nicolas Escudé, who also believes he can be more efficient indoors than he is now. “His serve has also improved compared to last year, and he still has room to improve the stability of this shot,” added Arnaud Clement. The Italian player has also raised his level of play even further in 2025, where “he brings a lot of variety to his game, with a desire to be more on the court and in front of the net”, notes Nicolas Escudé.
“They help each other progress. They are rivals so they try to achieve each other’s progress, but basically, they have to be able to do the same thing.”
Nicolas Escudé, former top 20on franceinfo: sport
This is even part of the expectations for next season. “We are waiting for a third person, or even a fourth person to take it, but that means we have to be even more complete.” said Arnaud Clément, without being able to pronounce his name at the moment. The arrival of this potentially damaging player is reminiscent of the Big 2 period before the Big 3, where only Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal dominated. “We must not forget that in the beginning, recalls Nicolas Escudé, they shut down the circuit between them. Until the competition below him dropped to their level and Novak Djokovic came along and became, whatever one may say, the greatest player of all time, without forgetting Andy Murray who also managed to come in for a season or two.” Therefore, the members of the Top 10 are warned: if they want to exist in 2026, they will have to work hard to follow in the footsteps of the leading duo, and offer some surprises in a circuit that could be sterile without competition.
