Jannik Sinner may have got the better of his big rival Carlos Alcaraz in the Six Kings Slam final in Saudi Arabia, but he admits there is one battle with his big rival that is set to be lost.
Sinner secured a thumping 6-2, 6-4 win against Alcaraz in a one-sided battle in Riyadh, as he snapped back from his defeat against Alcaraz in last month’s US Open final.
A powerful serving display was at the heart of Sinner’s win and Alcaraz must have left Riyadh with some concerns that his nearest rival has taken his game to a level he will struggle to match on a fast indoor court over the next few weeks.
Sinner and Alcaraz could meet against the Paris Masters, the ATP Finals and in the Davis Cup finals to complete a year when they have been the dominant players in the men’s game, sharing all four Grand Slam titles between them for a second successive season.
The duo have also shared the world No 1 ranking during those two years and now the battle is on to finish 2025 at the top of the ATP list.
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While the gap between leader Alcaraz and world No 2 Sinner is just 1,340 points, Sinner will need a lot of factors to go his way if he is to claim the year-end No 1 ranking for a second year in a row.
As the defending champion at the ATP Finals, Sinner cannot add to his points total from that end-of-season event, where he collected 1,500 ranking points last year.
More significantly, Alcaraz only has 300 ranking points to defend over the final weeks of this year after a less-than-impressive end to his 2024 season and that explains why Sinner has all but given up hope of overhauling the Spaniard.
“For me, the end of the year is very important,” Sinner told Netflix after his Six Kings Slam win against Alcaraz. “I’m very lucky because the ATP Finals are in Italy and this gives me a lot of energy with my home people.”
When asked whether he still has his sights set on chasing down Alcaraz for the world No 1 ranking over the next few weeks, he appeared to suggest that the race is already over as he added: “This year, it’s going to be impossible.”
Sinner has entered the upcoming ATP 500 tournament in Vienna and if he secures a win in that tournament, he will gain some ground on Alcaraz.
He needs to win Vienna, the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals to have a realistic chance of finishing 2025 ahead of Alcaraz and getting would also need his rival to lose early in both the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals.
The race for No 1 may be in Alcaraz’s hands for now, but there is no doubt that these two great champions will hold the top two seeded positions for the Australian Open in January.
The post Jannik Sinner uses a bleak word to describe his battle with Carlos Alcaraz for No 1 ranking appeared first on Tennis365.
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