Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner turned 2025 into a taut, season-long tug-of-war for men’s tennis supremacy, splitting the Grand Slam titles for a second straight year, while the women’s game delivered depth and drama with four different major champions.
Sinner set the tone early, overpowering Alexander Zverev to retain his Australian Open crown and become the first Italian man to win three Grand Slam titles, eclipsing Nicola Pietrangeli’s long-standing mark from back-to-back French Open triumphs in 1959 and 1960.
Then came the twist.
After serving a three-month ban in February stemming from anti-doping violations in 2024, Sinner returned to reignite his era-defining rivalry with Alcaraz, the pair colliding on tennis’ grandest clay stage in a riveting five-set Roland Garros final.
Alcaraz ultimately prevailed after saving three match points – one of the sport’s great comebacks in the longest Paris final at five hours, 29 minutes – with the Spaniard establishing himself as the “Prince of Clay” in the post-Rafael Nadal era.
The “Sincaraz” slugfest continued in the Wimbledon final, where Sinner avenged his painful defeat by beating Alcaraz to lift his first trophy on the All England Club lawns, setting up their inevitable U.S. Open showdown.
After thumping Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to prolong the Serb’s wait for a record 25th major title, Alcaraz dazzled under New York’s lights to dismantle Sinner in the final and tighten his grip on their rivalry.
“I give 100% every day to improve ... to see what I can do better to beat Jannik and win these kinds of trophies,” Alcaraz said after his second U.S. Open triumph.
“Having this rivalry means a lot. It’s super special for me, for him and for people who enjoy it every single time we play.”
With six Grand Slam titles to Sinner’s four, Alcaraz will look to eclipse Nadal and become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam when he heads Down Under in the new year.
Melbourne delivered the biggest surprise in the women’s game as Madison Keys dethroned Aryna Sabalenka to win her first Grand Slam title at age 29, becoming the fourth-oldest first-time major champion of the professional era, which began in 1968.
Coco Gauff lifted the French Open trophy by beating Sabalenka in the final to give American fans another high point, but Amanda Anisimova endured a brutal reality check in the Wimbledon final, where Iga Swiatek triumphed without dropping a game.
Anisimova rebounded from the double bagel to reach the U.S. Open final, but more heartbreak followed as Sabalenka proved too strong in a battle of big hitters and retained her title, lifting her Grand Slam tally to four.
Sabalenka’s hopes of ending the season with another crown were dashed when the world No. 1 was comprehensively beaten in the WTA Finals championship match, where Elena Rybakina pocketed $5.235 million after a flawless campaign in Riyadh.
Larger prize purses were a major talking point throughout the season as the Professional Tennis Players Association filed a lawsuit against the sport’s stakeholders, while leading players wrote to the Grand Slams seeking a bigger share of revenues.
While off-court battles over pay and governance rumbled on, opportunities were scarce beyond the duopoly at the top of the men’s game, leaving Djokovic to deliver the year’s standout moments for the chasing pack.
The 38-year-old Serb limited his schedule but shone with his 100th career title in Geneva and his 101st in Athens, where he paid an emotional tribute to former coach Nikola Pilic, who died in September at age 86.
The tennis world was in mourning again following the death of Pietrangeli at age 92, shortly after Italy retained the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup trophies and Sinner beat newly crowned world No. 1 Alcaraz to retain the ATP Finals title.
