Jannik Sinner extended his indoor winning streak to 31 as overcame fierce rival Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (4), 7-5 in two hours and fifteen minutes of exhilarating tennis in front of a boisterous home crowd in Turin – and also took home over $5m, the largest paycheque in tournament history.
The two superstars of men’s tennis served up yet another treat – and proved once again that they are head and shoulders ahead of the field when it comes to stroke play, power, movement, and mentality, as they closed out the 2025 season in style with more edge-of-your-seat drama before Sinner won the final point and fell flat on his back soaking up his latest achievement.
“There is no better ending for the season,” said Sinner afterwards. “It has been an incredible season. so many ups, difficult moments, obviously, for various reasons and finishing here in Turin in front of the home crowd against the best player in the world, my biggest rival. It’s amazing. The level was very, very high, especially the first set, it was a key moment. When I broke serve back [in the second set] it gives you a bit of confidence and belief and I’m extremely happy to finish the season like this.”
Alcaraz had won their last meeting in the final of the US Open, and retired in the final against the same opponent in Cincinnati, but Sinner was determined for a different outcome this time with the massive home support, which resembled a Davis Cup atmosphere containing football-style chants of “ole ole ole ole, Sinner.”
Both men came into the match with perfect 4-0 records this week and something had to give, but nothing could separate them in a tightly contested first set during which Alcaraz took a medical time out for a hamstring problem at 5-4 up.
The set went to a tiebreak where both players felt the tension and made uncharacteristic errors before Sinner held firm to win an amazing rally to go 4-3 ahead and later won the set with a serve out wide to win his 19th set in a row at the ATP Finals. He had earlier been set-point down but saved it with a gutsy 116mph second serve.
However, the Italian had a let-down right at the start of the second set and lost serve immediately, and it was remarkably the first time this week that he had been broken. But he maintained his composure to apply pressure to Alcaraz and broke back for three games all before a mammoth seven-minute game secured him a crucial 4-3 lead. Both players held twice more before the final game where Alcaraz had 40-30 to take the match into a second tie-break but was pegged back to deuce and the pressure kicked in.
When asked about he felt about losing serve just once this week, he replied: “We worked a lot for this shot to be one of the most consistent, and hopefully in the future too. How I started this week against Felix was very important too. It’s a huge confidence boost straight away and finishing like this the season, it’s it means a lot to me, realising that I can play a high level for a week.”
Sinner has opted out of playing the Davis Cup later this month as he looks to rest his body and recuperate ready for another long year ahead where he will look to reclaim the top spot from Alcaraz.
“We are individual athletes obviously, but without a team this is not possible. Celebrating this trophy at the end of the year after such an intense last couple of months, there is no better ending for the end of the season. It was a very tough and close match up, I was facing set point in the first set and I am extremely happy at how I handled the situation; it means the world to me. It’s amazing. especially the last months have been very, very positive for me and of course now it’s a bit of rest. It’s also important and then we see how 2026 goes.”
