Playing with career-best clarity, consistency and weaponry, Carlos Alcaraz stormed to the 2025 US Open title, and back to the top of the world rankings.
The Spaniard outplayed principal rival and defending champion Jannik Sinner in four sets, completing the tournament winning 21 of his 22 sets and sealing victory with a service winner.
That was his 42nd winner of Sunday’s final – exactly double that of the powerful Sinner – and it secured his sixth major title at just 22 years of age.
Now with two titles each at the US Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros, he will target the career Grand Slam at Australian Open 2026.
Alcaraz’ coach Juan Carlos Ferrero described his charge’s performance as “perfect”.
“Yeah, he's right. I think I played perfect. I played perfectly,” Alcaraz agreed with a smile.
“Since the first rounds to the end of the tournament, [this is] the best tournament so far that I have ever played. The consistency of my level during the whole tournament has been really, really high, which I'm really proud of, because it's something that I've been working on, to be really consistent.”
The story of Alcaraz’ US Open campaign was indeed this improved focus, relentlessness and lack of lapses.
The creativity and shotmaking flair remains, something Alcaraz said was an invaluable part of his game.
Yet this was the first time in 13 Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances he’d progressed to that stage without dropping a set. He then beat Jiri Lehecka and Novak Djokovic in straight sets to continue his unblemished record in New York in 2025, setting up a final blockbuster against Sinner.
Key to his efficient progression was a vastly improved serve, which had come along in leaps and bounds in 2025 and was getting more potent with every match at Flushing Meadows.
In Sunday’s final, he was practically untouchable on serve, slamming 10 aces – his highest single-match tally of the tournament – while not double-faulting once for the first time all fortnight.
From an average first-serve speed of 182km/h against Reilly Opelka in round one, Alcaraz averaged 193km/h versus Sinner, a match during which he also struck his fastest serve of the tournament, at 216km/h.
In more proof of that efficiency, no doubt aided by his serve, Alcaraz dominated Sinner in short rallies – classified as four shots or less, and the majority of all rallies – by winning 85 while losing only 58.
Even an elite returner like Sinner struggled against the onslaught. Compared to his six previous matches, the number of returns Sinner got back into court, and the number of points he won facing first and second serves, all dropped.
He generated just one break point in the final, after averaging 11 break point chances across his first six matches.
“He has improved. I felt like he was a bit cleaner today. The things what I did well in London [when I beat him in the Wimbledon final], he did better today,” Sinner assessed.
“Especially serving, both sides, both swings very clean. Yeah, I think that's it. I give lots of credit to him, because he handled the situation better than I did.”
Alcaraz’ efficiency did not materialise suddenly at the US Open. It’s reflective of a 2025 trend, and it’s seen the Spaniard surpass Sinner as the game’s dominant player.
This was Alcaraz’ eighth consecutive tournament final. He has won six of those – two of them being Roland Garros and the US Open – and has won 46 of his past 48 matches.
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He’s now a tour-leading 61-6 this season and returns to world No.1 for the first time in two years.
As for his rivalry with Sinner? He continues to hold the edge.
Sinner and Alcaraz split the four majors in 2025, just as they did in 2024. They have created a duopoly approaching the dominance once displayed by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who nearly 20 years ago combined to win 11 consecutive major titles, an Open-era men’s record.
Yet when Alcaraz meets Sinner, he usually wins. He’s won seven of their past eight clashes, leads 4-2 in Slam meetings and 7-2 on hard courts, and has now won 10 of the 15 meetings overall.
It takes work to maintain that edge, and Alcaraz is aware Sinner will be coming back at him – and for the No.1 ranking he surrendered.
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“He watch[es] a lot of my matches just to study my game. I do the same. I watch a lot of his matches,” Alcaraz said.
“First of all, because I love watching him play. I think it is unbelievable what he's doing. Secondly, it's because I love to study him, how he plays, how he feel on the tournaments just to if I played him in that tournament, just to have feedback how he's been playing in the tournaments.
“If I want to win the US Open, if I want to beat Jannik, I have to play perfect.”