The ATP Masters final poster makes sense. Even clear. Isn’t the traditional year-end meeting, which brings together eight of the world’s best players, a “masters tournament”? When reviewing the 2025 season, it is hard to find anything better than the duel between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to embody that expression, as the 22-year-old Spanish world number one and his Italian runner-up, 24, dominated the circuit.
Sunday, November 16, on the courts of the Inalpi Arena in Turin, the two defended their positions, engaging in a fierce battle on the court, under the watchful eye of the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, three-time winner of Roland-Garros and winner of the Masters 25 years ago. Until Jannik Sinner finally won in straight sets, 7-6(7/5), 7-5, after trying hard for 2 hours 15 minutes. The Transalpine rider was able, for once, to explode in joy, falling to the ground: he retained his crown and continued his incredible series on indoor hard courts, now with 31 consecutive wins on surfaces.
Carlos Alcaraz knows that his rival starts as favorite in this final, the sixth contested this year between the two players – including three at Grand Slams. The Murcian has to date never reached this stage at the Masters as Jannik Sinner, the title holder, has not conceded a set since the 2023 edition and his head-to-head defeat against Novak Djokovic, in 2023 (3-6, 3-6) – a statistic that still stands.
Not to mention that the Italian player played in front of his audience. “Carlitos” also joked, before the deadline, about his hopes of making a profit ” at least “ encouragement “from three, four people”. Even though he was a supporter of the local struggle, he was able to see the respect the community had for him.
“We really raised our level of play”
The Spaniard had nothing to be ashamed of about his evening performance. Far from it. After a tight first round, judged by a tie-break, he even offered to fight his opponent at the start of the second round. However, Jannik Sinner hasn’t dropped serve since the second set of his Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Paris, against American Ben Shelton… that’s 65 games in a row! However, no doubt due to the discomfort in his right thigh, Murcian would eventually give up. Jannik Sinner sealed the win on his first match point.
“Carlitos” still leads by a large margin in their confrontations, ten wins to six, including four wins to two in 2025. But as surprising as it may seem, the result of Sunday’s face-to-face encounter seems almost coincidental. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz were so far ahead of their rivals that defeat didn’t even seem like it, considering the stalemate that followed. “Every time we compete, we really raise our level of play”admit the second, on the eve of the meeting.
Both players in particular sharing, for the second year in a row, four Grand Slam titles – Roland-Garros and US Open for Spaniards; Australian Open and Wimbledon for the Italian – even crossing over there, in the final, three times. Only Germany’s Alexander Zverev came to bother their duo, in Melbourne, in January. Eternity. If their ultradominance risks getting tiresome, the spectacle will always be there.
