Carlos Alcaraz beats Jannik Sinner to win US Open and reclaim No1 ranking

Sinner acknowledged that he would have to make changes if he is to keep pace with the Spaniard. “I’m going to aim to, even if I lose some matches from now on, try to be a bit more unpredictable. I think that’s what I have to do to become a better player, a more complete player,” he said.

“I didn’t make one serve-volley, didn’t use a lot of drop shots, and then you arrive to a point where you play Carlos and have to go out of the comfort zone.”

The key tactical difference was Alcaraz’s power, which yielded ten aces to Sinner’s two and 42 winners to 21. It drew repeated gasps from the New York crowd, which included Donald Trump, at the invitation of the Swiss watchmaker Rolex in a hospitality suite.

“This is super-special for me,” Alcaraz said. “The three weeks I spent here are a privilege. I feel at home and feel the energy and love here.

“In general, I think it has been my best level during the two weeks. Since the first match until the final I think I’ve been playing great tennis. Today, I just was brilliant, to be honest. If I want to beat Jannik on the biggest stage, I have to be brilliant, which I’m really happy about.”

Organisers will be relieved the match eventually passed without incident after a 45-minute delay to the start time. Extra security checks outside Arthur Ashe Stadium as a result of Trump’s presence caused massive queues to get the full crowd of 23,000 inside the world’s largest tennis arena, with some spectators unable to take their seats until the second set. This gave the players an extra challenge before walking on to the court.

Both arranged their pre-match schedules with the original start time of 2pm local time in mind, carefully considering when to practise, eat and hydrate. Footage of both during the delay showed them repeatedly stretching and moving in an effort to keep warm before the match eventually got under way after the national anthem at 2.45pm — 7.45pm for British viewers.

Clearly it had little impact on Alcaraz as he made a tremendous start, hitting his forehand with venom from the off for a break of serve in the first game. Under severe pressure, Sinner had to work hard to merely hold his serve and he managed to get a couple of games on the board before conceding the double break to go 5-2 down. Throughout the set, Alcaraz dropped only three points on serve, which is another indication of the significant improvements he has made with this shot.

Sinner again had his back to the wall at the start of the second set when he faced a break point, but managed an important hold for 1-0. Suddenly he made a tactical change, staying closer to the baseline while increasingly targeting the backhand side of Alcaraz, and it paid dividends as he went on to break for 3-1. This was only the third time in the tournament that Alcaraz had dropped his serve.

Sinner was now directing proceedings and he went on to level the match at one set all, ending Alcaraz’s bid to get through the fortnight without dropping a set. The last player to do so at the US Open remains the late Australian Neale Fraser in 1960.

Alcaraz reset at the start of the third set and added some more power to his serve and groundstrokes, quickly swinging the momentum back in his favour with some pinpoint returning to break for 2-0. He raced ahead from here to a 5-0 lead, although Sinner produced a late hold of serve to avoid being on the wrong end of a 6-0 scoreline for the first time since he lost to Daniil Medvedev at the 2021 ATP Finals.

At two sets to one up, Alcaraz was in full flow. He kept up his tremendous consistency on serve, barely giving Sinner a sniff, and took the opportunity when it arrived to claim the pivotal break for 3-2. Victory soon followed at 5-4 when Alcaraz sealed his third championship point in style with an ace out wide.

“Carlos has improved,” Sinner said. “I felt like he was doing everything slightly better today, especially serving on both sides, with both swings very clean. I give lots of credit to him because he handled the situation better than I did. 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.”

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