Carlos Alcaraz achieved the first of two goals this week at the ATP Masters in Turin, Italy, Thursday, November 13: after his victory against Lorenzo Musetti, he is guaranteed to finish 2025 in first place in the world rankings.
At 22 years old, “Carlitos” regained the number one throne where he finished the 2022 season, at just 19 years old. Since his first coronation, brilliantly and unexpectedly, the Spaniard has added weight and expanded his reach, achieving, in 2025, the best season of his career. After his crushing victory (6-4, 6-1) against Musetti, his record this year is now seventy wins, eight losses, with eight titles won, including Roland-Garros and the US Open.
“Finishing at number one in the world is really something strong for me, that’s the goal, even at the start of the year, (He) seems very, very far away”he explained. “Just from the middle of the season to goals, it was a struggle with Jannik (Sinner) to reach this point, I am very proud of myself”continued Carlos Alcaraz.
The Spaniard managed to defeat his great Italian rival, his only rival this season, having knocked him out of world number one in September after a sixty-five week reign, before the Italian’s return to world number one for one week at the start of November.
Duel at the top
The two players are currently separated by 1,050 points in the ATP rankings (11,050 for Alcaraz, 10,000 for Sinner).
With three wins in group stage matches, or 600 points, the Spaniard brought his provisional total to 11,650 points. Even if he performs perfectly and wins the title like in 2024, Sinner will pocket 1,500 points, bringing his total to 11,500 points, lower than Alcaraz.
The ATP Masters in Turin had two groups: the “Jimmy Connors” group and the “Björn Borg” group. With first place in the group “Jimmy Connors”, the other qualifier is Alex De Minaur from Australia with only one win, Alcaraz will face the second in the group “Björn Borg” in the semifinals on Saturday, currently Alexander Zverev from Germany (world third).
The year 2025 is marked by a duel between Alcaraz and Sinner who share four Grand Slam titles and are ahead of the competition. If the Italian started the year by winning the Australian Open before serving a three-month suspension for testing positive for an anabolic, then the Spaniard had a mixed first quarter with a quarter-final defeat in Melbourne against the relentless Novak Djokovic or a disappointing American tour (semi-finals in Indian Wells, early elimination in Miami).
But from the moment he stepped foot on clay, “Carlitos” took on another dimension, winning three titles (Monte-Carlo, Rome, Roland-Garros) and reaching the final of the fourth and final tournament he played in the world (Barcelona).
He then won at Queen’s, before bowing out in the final Wimbledon against Sinners. The Spaniard then won on American cement, in Cincinnati and at the US Open, each time after a duel in the final with Sinner.
Since his coronation in New York, he has donned the blonde dye and replaced the good, winning the Tokyo tournament, the bad, with an early exit at the Masters 1000 in Paris, and the average, like his second match at the ATP Finals, a hard-fought win against American Taylor Fritz 6-7 (2/7), 7-5, 6-3.
The fact remains that for the second time in his career, after 2022, he reaches the last four of the “masters tournament” and seems the only one who can bother Sinner on his favorite surface, hard indoor, where the Italian is on a continuous streak of twenty-eight wins.
