2025 has been absolutely dominated by the new big 2 in tennis, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. With 2 Grand Slam tournaments apiece this year and another 6 under the belt for Alcaraz, it is truly a breakout year for both of them.
Whether you like it or not, these two have been dominating the tennis landscape, showing up in almost every Grand Slam final this year.
We would like to decide who truly deserves the World #1 spot.
Why Alcaraz?
Alcaraz has recently been proving to the tennis world why he deserves that number one spot. He has gone toe-to-toe with ex-world #1 Jannik Sinner in almost every Grand Slam final this year. Recently, after his huge victory at the U.S. Open, he claimed the title as world #1. At just 22 years old, Alcaraz has an astonishing record of 270-62. He has an incredible 6 Grand Slam titles under his belt. Comparing ALcaraz to the big three when they were all 22 shows that Rafa Nadal had 5, Roger Federer had 1, and Novak Djokovic had 1. Alcaraz clearly surpasses Roger and Novak at the same age in terms of Slam count and beats out Rafa by 1. This shows that ALcaraz is a promising figure in tennis and could be a real problem if he continues at this pace.
Now, focusing on who deserves to be world number one between Alcaraz and Sinner, their current head-to-head matchup record stands at 10-5 in favor of Alcaraz. Carlos may not have the same solid consistency as Sinner, but he has proven to be the more flexible player, adapting to his opponent’s play style and ultimately dominating the game. This most recent U.S. Open, Alaarz only dropped 1 set the entire tournament! This just shows his utter dominance recently and how he has truly shifted the public opinion on his skill.
Why Sinner?
At 24 years old, he holds an incredible record of 300-85 with 20 ATP titles to his name. Unlike Alcaraz, Sinner’s consistency and unquestionable, long-standing dominance over the sport have given him so much success. His dominant, 10-month-long run from August 2023 to June 2024 saw him rise from world number 9 to world number 1. In this time, he outshone a faltering Alcaraz and an aging Djokovic. Sinner’s ability to strike the ball has astounded fans and fellow players his entire career.
Jannik Sinner has retained his number one ranking for 65 weeks, only losing it a few weeks ago in the US Open final. Keep in mind that he retained this ranking whilst not playing for 3 months, a testament to his dominance over that period. While we must acknowledge the doping allegations that led to this 3-month ban, we cannot discount the fact that even after he came back, he dominantly won Wimbledon. This ability to come back from the lowest point in his career and continue to dominate shows his skill as a player.
Who deserves World #1? I believe Sinner deserves it more than any other player on tour. While Alcaraz may have won the last slam at the US Open, Sinner’s immense consistency has overshadowed him for the last 2 years, especially last year, when Alcaraz’s abilities were questioned by fans across the world when he went out in early rounds of multiple consecutive tournaments. Even though the previous Grand Slam was won by Alcaraz, the score on slams is even at 2-2 this year. Sinner deserves that number one spot because of his incredible consistency, dominance, and ability to persevere. Alcaraz is an incredible player, but Sinner showed that he is ready for the World #1 spot for 65 weeks, and now, he continues to show it time and time again through incredible displays of skill every time he steps on court.
