In the seventeenth meeting of one of the most compelling rivalries of tennis today, Jannik Sinner dethroned Carlos Alcaraz from the number one ranking, which he had held for 22 weeks, from 10 November 2025 to present. He has held the rank for a total of 66 weeks. The two men had a surprising symmetry of statistics before the final, as follows:
Alcaraz defeated the local hero, Valentin Vacherot, in the semi-final in straight sets, who will jump six places tomorrow on the ranking table, going from number 23 to 17. The Spaniard will slip to number two and hold 13240, just 160 points short of Sinner. The Italian has become the second player to win the opening three Masters 1000 tournaments of the year, tying with Novak Djokovic from 2015.
The win-loss record for Sinner stands at 24-2 for the year with three titles now, namely the Sunshine Double, i.e. ATP 1000 Indian Wells Masters and Miami Masters on hard surface, followed by today’s title on clay. The two rivals exchanged a warm embrace and words at the net and a handshake, with Alcaraz appreciating Sinner, saying,
“Hard court, grass court, clay, next time,”
“Always a pleasure, always a pleasure”
“Great job man, great stuff,”
The two shared the court the last time in the final match of the ATP World Tour Finals at Turin, where Sinner emerged as the eventual champion of the tournament. Alcaraz will be next seen playing at the ATP 500 Barcelona Open, in front of his home crowd, against Otto Virtanen of Finland in the first round. It is the first career meeting for the two players.