Jannik Sinner’s two-year hard-court Grand Slam dominance came to an end on Sunday night in New York as his arch-nemesis, Carlos Alcaraz, amped up the heat to clinch his sixth Slam title, trouncing the defending champion while also reclaiming the World No. 1 ranking.
Alcaraz, who holds a commanding head-to-head record over the 24-year-old Italian, was bracing up for their third Grand Slam final meeting of 2025, an Open Era record, on the back of a flawless run throughout the competition without dropping a set. Though Sinner managed to clinch the third set of the contest, Alcaraz remained the overwhelming favourite as he became the youngest man to win multiple Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces.
Speaking after his runner-up finish, Sinner conceded that he had run out of options against Alcaraz, who held a supreme all-round game. Sinner also admitted that he was open to losing games in the imminent future, as long as he was fine-tuning his command across styles.
‘Bit more unpredictable’
“I didn’t make one certain volley, I didn’t use a lot of drop shots (today). And then you arrive to a point where you play against Carlos, where you have to go out of the comfort zone. So I’m gonna aim to, you know, maybe even losing some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player and because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player. At the end of the day, that’s my main goal,” Sinner told reporters.
While Alcaraz’s epic come-from-behind win in the French Open final earlier this year had stunned Sinner, he bounced back in distinct fashion to beat the Spaniard at Wimbledon. However, returning to the hard-courts, Alcaraz first trumped Sinner at Cincinnati before dominating the Flushing Meadows. Sinner highlighted Alcaraz’s improved service as the major difference since their last meeting.
“He has improved. I felt like he was a bit cleaner today. The things that I did well in London, he did better today and that’s the result. So, I felt like he was doing everything slightly better today, especially serving both sides, both swings, very clean and yeah, I think that it. I’ll give lots of credit to him because he handled the situation better than I did and he raised his level when he had to. I’m still proud of myself about the season I’m playing and making, but, yeah, he played better than me today,” Sinner said as he slipped to No. 2 on Suday night.
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