The men’s pro tennis season came to a glorious finish today in Turin, Italy, as the world’s two best players—Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner—played each other in the final of the Nitto ATP Finals, with Sinner walking away the winner after two fiercely contested sets, 7-6, 7-5.
On the off chance you’re not familiar with the ATP Finals: While the tournament isn’t a major, it’s probably the closest thing to it—and, for many players, the true test of tennis excellence. It’s limited to only the world’s eight best players, who play each other in a series of round-robins before the final four players then play elimination matches. (NB: While Novak Djokovic, currently ranked fourth, qualified for the Finals, an aggravated shoulder caused him to skip the tournament, giving ninth-ranked Lorenzo Musetti his first Finals berth.)
Sinner’s victory here, his second in a row (and his 31st consecutive win on indoor hard courts), caps a season highlighted by wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon; Alcaraz, for his part, ends the year with the number-one ranking, along with two Slams of his own (the French and US Open), with the two of them light years ahead of everybody else.
And while their match at the ATP Finals didn’t hold a candle to their five-set thriller at the French, it was neck-and-neck for the duration. The two have now won the last eight Grand Slam tournaments (only Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who split 11 between them, and Djokovic and Nadal, who split nine, have longer streaks).
Here’s hoping we’re still in the salad days of their rivalry. Alcaraz sure seems to think so: “Hopefully you’ll be ready for next year, because I’ll be ready,” he said on the court just after the match.
