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Jun 8, 2025; Paris, FR; Jannik Sinner of Italy and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain pose together at the trophy presentation after the men’s singles final on day 15 at Roland Garros Stadium.
Jun 8, 2025; Paris, FR; Jannik Sinner of Italy and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain pose together at the trophy presentation after the men’s singles final on day 15 at Roland Garros Stadium.
The No. 1 and No. 2 ranked players in the world will lock horns for the third consecutive time in Grand Slam finals at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships. Italian powerhouse Jannik Sinner, who was a set away from crashing out in the R16 before Grigor Dimitrov retired, will lock horns with double defending champion Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday. With English immortality up for grabs, which young phenom will etch his name into the history books?
Sinner and Alcaraz have already faced each other twice in 2025 – the Spaniard has trounced his three-time Grand Slam winning opponent on both occasions. Over the years, this rivalry has given fans a taster session of what to expect across the next two decades. Fabulous shots, thrilling finishes, respectful camaraderie – Sinner v Alcaraz has it all.
At this year’s Championships, Sinner has completed straight set victories in all his contests, barring the pre-quarterfinal vs Dimitrov. On the other hand, Alcaraz was taken to five sets by Fabio Fognini in his opener, before Jan-Lennard Struff, Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz stretched him to four setters. Ahead of their Wimbledon 2025 final, let’s take a look at the timeline of the iconic encounters that round up the Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz duel:
Exploring the Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz Rivalry Over the Years
Carlos Alcaraz currently leads the head-to-head against Jannik Sinner by 8-4. This includes five consecutive match wins against the top ranked Italian, between early 2024 and mid 2025. Sinner’s last victory against Alcaraz came at Beijing in 2023.
At the Grand Slam level, Alcaraz leads Sinner with a scoreline of 3-1. Interestingly, the five-time major champion tasted defeat at this very event, three years ago. Sinner produced a fine display to outlast Alcaraz in four sets during their Wimbledon 2022 Round of 16. Meanwhile, four out of five match-ups at the Masters-1000 level have been dominated by Alcaraz.
Here is a breakdown of the Sinner vs Alcaraz clashes, starting with the most recent:
French Open 2025 (Final)
Hailed by several tennis pundits as one of the greatest Grand Slam finals of the modern era, Chapter-12 of the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry was truly otherworldly. It was a perfect example of the ebbs and flows that the sport of tennis brings with it, and had shot-making of the highest quality. Sinner started strong, having lost to Alcaraz in the final of Rome just before Roland Garros.
After dropping the opening two sets, Alcaraz roared back to shift the momentum in his favour. In Set-4, the 22-year-old saved three championship points to deny Sinner an easy route to the trophy. He remained composed and altered his tactics efficiently to win the longest French Open final in the Open Era. Alcaraz completed a terrific 4-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6(10-2) comeback win.
Having faced a three month suspension after a positive doping test, Jannik Sinner returned for his home tournament in Rome. The 23-year-old would drop just one set en route to the final, where he booked a face-off against his familiar foe. Alcaraz was too strong on the day, finding the perfect depth to his groundstrokes. He capitalised on Sinner’s inability to vary his game when he wasn’t painting the lines, and won 7-6(5) 6-1.
China Open 2024 (Final)
Yet another eye-catching encounter between the two prodigies, the Beijing final in 2024 left fans gobsmacked. Both players adapted perfectly to the pace of the court, and needed clean winners to get past one another. After Sinner grabbed the opener, Alcaraz took the second set. In the decider, the Spaniard produced a fine comeback thanks to the support of the Chinese crowd for a 6-7(6) 6-4 7-6(3) success.
French Open 2024 (Semifinal)
🇦🇺 Australian Open: Sinner 🇫🇷 Roland Garros: Alcaraz 🇬🇧 Wimbledon: Alcaraz 🇺🇸 US Open: Sinner
The 2024 French Open, although not as entertaining as the year after, staged the first of two five set thrillers between these two gladiators on clay. Yet again, it was the Italian who choked from an advantageous position in this clash. After going down by two sets to one, Alcaraz outlasted his opponent endurance-wise and ensured a successful entry into the final. The scorecard read 2-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3 in 4 hours and 9 minutes.
Indian Wells 2024 (Semifinal)
This happened to be one of the few tournaments where both semifinal winners were served a breadstick in the opening set, before inching their way to victory. Alcaraz had no answers to Sinner in the opening set – he had an inferior return rating of 50 in comparison to Sinner’s 292. In the next two sets, he gathered courage and focus to play more compact tennis. Eventually, the 1-6 6-3 6-2 win boosted his confidence to eventually claim the title.
China Open 2023 (Semifinal)
The 2023 China Open in Beijing happens to be the World No. 1’s most recent win against Alcaraz. The 6th seed walked into this match after enduring two exhausting three-set encounters vs Dan Evans (R32) and Grigor Dimitrov (QF). Meanwhile, top seed Alcaraz didn’t drop a set en route to the semis. Yet, the fact that Sinner had slightly more time to extend his arms and freely power through his groundstrokes played into his hands. He won in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-1 to advance to the summit clash.
Indian Wells & Miami Open 2023 (Semifinal)
Incidentally, Alcaraz and Sinner locked horns in back-to-back Sunshine Double semis in 2023. Alcaraz battled hard to overcome Sinner 7-6(4) 6-3 at Indian Wells, and also took the first set on the slower courts of Miami. Yet, the Italian rallied to win some of the best exchanges of the year en route to a 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 victory and earn redemption.
US Open 2022 (Quarterfinal)
While Sinner peaked slightly later, the 2022 US Open was Alcaraz’s moment of reckoning. He captured his first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows, and scraped past Sinner in an absolute humdinger in the last eight stage of the competition. It was a match that lasted 5 hours and 15 minutes, and set a tournament record for a 2:50 AM ending.
19 years old Carlos Alcaraz comes back from a break down in sets 4 and 5, saves a match point and beats Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3 to reach his first career Grand Slam semifinal at the #USOpen.
Similar to Roland Garros 2025, Sinner was one point away from overturning the result. After getting swept in the opening set, the now World No. 1 came clutch in two tiebreakers to go up 2-1. Serving with a match point in Set-4, Sinner sent a backhand wide that would end up haunting him. Alcaraz eventually won the match, the final that ensued, and became the youngest World No. 1 in ATP Rankings history.
Umag Open 2022 (Final)
The Croatian Open clash between Sinner and Alcaraz is the only occasion wherein they competed at a 250-level competition. Seeded No. 2 and No. 1 respectively, both Sinner and Alcaraz beat qualifiers in the semis to get to this stage. The Italian took his time to get used to Alcaraz’s power game, before easing past him in three sets – 6-7(5) 6-1 6-1.
Wimbledon 2022 (Round of 16)
While Alcaraz has been supremely successful at Wimbledon and on grass in general, it took him some time to control his shots on the surface. In 2022, he was looking to assert his raw power into the forehand, without taking variation and court dimensions into consideration. As a result, he played into Sinner’s hands and the Italian pounced. The then 20-year-old needed four sets to win 6-1 6-4 6-7(8) 6-3.
2 – Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are just the second pair in the Open Era to meet in the Men's Singles final at Wimbledon and Roland Garros in a season, after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (2006-08). Rivalry. #Wimbledon | @Wimbledon@atptour@ATPMediaInfopic.twitter.com/NsfMc7Tw2Y
Alcaraz wrapped up his first ever victory over Sinner in two tight sets. Aged 18 at the time and ranked No. 35 in the world, Alcaraz needed just over two hours to cause a major upset at the French capital. Unfortunately, the 7-6(1) 7-5 win was not enough to ensure a deep run for ‘Carlitos’, as he was beaten by home favourite Hugo Gaston in the very next round.
A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.
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