For the last couple of years Jannik Sinner has been making the kind of waves that have marked him out as the next big thing in world tennis, says Partab Ramchand. The 23-year-old Italian has been an unstoppable force in 2024, culminating in him being ranked No. 1 and winning the ATP Tour finals in Turin. Sinner says that he can get even better, so perhaps we will see an even more dominant player next year and that is not good news for his rivals, especially Carlos Alcaraz, says Ramchand, as he dwells here on the Sinner-Alcaraz duel for supremacy
What a year it has been for Jannik Sinner! For the last couple of years he has been making the kind of waves that have marked him out as the next big thing in world tennis. This year, that feeling came to fruition. The 23-year-old Italian has been an unstoppable force in 2024, culminating in him being ranked No. 1 and winning the ATP Tour finals in Turin. He ended the season in a blaze of glory, winning 26 of his last 27 matches. His victory in the title decider was his 70th of the season and he also became the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986 to win the year-ending ATP Tour finals without dropping a set.
In beating American Taylor Fritz in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, Sinner became the first Italian player to win the ATP Tour finals. Sinner, who was runner-up last season after losing to Novak Djokovic, played flawless tennis in clinching the trophy before an adoring home crowd. By sweeping all five matches towards clinching the trophy, Sinner won 4.8 million dollars – the biggest prize money cheque in professional tennis. It was a performance thoroughly in keeping with Sinner’s remarkable consistency throughout the year. His victory at Turin was the latest big achievement in a year full of them, including two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open. He ended the season with eight titles and an overall record of 70-6.
The ‘golden boy’ of Italian tennis as he was christened during the year says that he can get even better, so perhaps we will see an even more dominant player next year and that is not good news for his rivals, especially Carlos Alcaraz. It was the 21-year-old Spaniard who first emerged as the next big thing in world tennis by winning the US Open in 2022 and ending that year as the youngest-ever world No 1. He is still the top contender to Sinner for the world’s leading player, his two triumphs at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2024 being proof of this, as also his current ranking which has him at No. 3. Indeed, 2025 could well be the year of one of the great rivalries as Alcaraz and Sinner prepare to battle each other for supremacy.
It was always on the cards that the reign of the Big Three would finally be over in 2024. Roger Federer was in retirement and Rafael Nadal followed suit during the year. Djokovic, however, kept the flag aloft on behalf of the Big Three in 2023. Despite the growing challenge, principally from Alcaraz, he won three Grand Slams while setting the record for most such titles (24), won the year-ending ATP Tour finals and ended the year as No. 1 for a record-extending eighth time. This year, however, was one to forget for the 37-year-old Serb. Bothered by injuries and a knee surgery, he hardly won anything on the ATP circuit, the silver lining being provided by his gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
It can be taken for granted that Djokovic, currently ranked No. 7, will not win another Grand Slam and may not be around the circuit for very long, following his two great rivals into retirement very soon. So, does that make the field clear for Sinner and Alcaraz? Well, they may be the front runners to dominate 2025 but may not have things exactly going their way.
Alexander Zverev is playing perhaps the best tennis of his career. The German was among the first quartet to challenge the dominance of the Big Three, the others being Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev around five years ago. Since then, Thiem faltered badly, went out of the top 100 and retired. Tsitsipas has slipped out of the top ten but Zverev, currently ranked No. 2, and the fifth-ranked Medvedev are still in the mix. But one player to watch out for in 2025 could well be Taylor Fritz. He has made steady progress over the years. His year-end ranking in 2021 was 23 and since then he has risen to No. 8, No. 5 and now he is No. 4, thanks to being a finalist both at the US Open and in the ATP Tour finals. And there are others too in Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and Holger Rune.
So while 2025 promises to be another fascinating year around the circuit, the showpiece one feels will still be the Sinner-Alcaraz duel for supremacy.
(The writer is a veteran sports writer who spent his career working for The Indian Express and The Telegraph and Sportsworld. He lives in Chennai.)
from Webdoux