US Open review: Ball in Sinner's court as Alcaraz wins latest game of one-upmanship

The 2025 US Open has come to an end with Carlos Alcaraz defeating last year’s winner Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final and Aryna Sabalenka successfully defending her women's title by beating Amanda Anisimova in a high-quality championship match on Saturday.

Here's a look at the biggest takeaways from finals weekend in New York.

It’s advantage Carlos in ‘Sincaraz’ chess match

Chapter 15 of the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry saw Alcaraz claim a four-set victory over his familiar foe to secure a sixth Grand Slam title and return to the world No 1 spot for the first time since September 2023.

It was their fifth meeting in five months and their third consecutive showdown in a major final.

There’s a lot to like about the ‘Sincaraz’ rivalry but perhaps the most compelling aspect is how quickly each player has successfully made the necessary adjustments after every big match they’ve contested against one another.

When Sinner lost a heartbreaker to Alcaraz at the French Open final, squandering a two-sets-to-love lead and three match points, the Italian found a way to move on in remarkable fashion. He was locked in, mentally, when he got a rematch with the Spaniard five weeks later at Wimbledon, and swiftly got his revenge.

During that Wimbledon final, Alcaraz had a bad serving day and was outplayed by a superior Sinner.

The Spaniard’s response? Going on a 13-match winning streak, of course, and putting together his best serving performance at a major, winning the US Open at the loss of just one set, and dropping just three service games throughout the entire tournament.

He won, on average, 84 per cent of his first-serve points in New York, and 63 per cent of his second-serve.

His first-serve percentage during the US Open final was 61 per cent, up from the 53 per cent he posted against Sinner at Wimbledon.

Alcaraz told reporters on Sunday that he discussed with his team immediately after his Wimbledon loss what they had to work on during his training block ahead of Cincinnati and the US Open so he would be ready for what seemed like an inevitable rematch with Sinner in New York.

“Right after the match I just thought that I need to improve some things if I want to beat him, after that Wimbledon final,” said the Spaniard.

“I just thought about the specific things I want to improve if I want to beat Jannik. So I just spent two weeks before Cincinnati just practicing specific some things about my game that I need or I felt like I need to improve if I want to beat Jannik.”

He hasn’t lost a match since, sweeping both Cincinnati and the US Open titles in the span of four weeks.

“The things that I did well in London, he did better today,” Sinner after Sunday's defeat.

“I felt like he was doing everything slightly better today, especially serving, both sides, both wings very clean. I give lots of credit to him, because he handled the situation better than I did.”

Not long after his loss, Sinner wasted no time sharing his intention to make adjustments to his own game, telling the press he needed to be less predictable in order to defeat a player like Alcaraz.

“Now it's going to be on me if I want to make changes or not, you know? Definitely we are going to work on that,” vowed Sinner.

“So I'm going to aim to, maybe even losing some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player, because I think that's what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”

The Italian just spent 65 consecutive weeks as the world No 1, lost just five matches all season – it’s worth noting he was suspended for three months – and won two majors in 2025 but walks away from New York eager to improve.

Getting to watch those two players try to one-up each other tactically, technically, mentally, and physically is the true gift of the ‘Sincaraz’ rivalry.

Sabalenka, Anisimova serve up boom-boom masterpiece

In the same spirit of learning from one’s own past mistakes, Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova enjoyed inspired runs at the US Open.

After losing two Grand Slam finals, to Madison Keys in Australia and Coco Gauff in Paris, this season, Sabalenka took on another American in the US Open title decider in Anisimova, who had beaten the world No 1 in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.

Sabalenka got flustered in her clash with Gauff three months ago, her negative behaviour on court costing her the match in shocking fashion. Her post-match comments drew lots of criticism because she failed to give her opponent any credit.

Fast-forward to New York and Sabalenka has emerged with renewed confidence and poise, unrattled by the home crowd that was supporting her opponents in the last two rounds and unbothered by the mid-match comebacks Jessica Pegula and Anisimova made in the semis and final.

So how did she do it?

After her French Open defeat, she flew to Mykonos, where she lounged by the pool and read the book Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon's Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart.

“It’s about the brain – the way it's written, it's very interesting, because it's like a real story about a guy who learned how to control himself,” explained Sabalenka.

The Belarusian realised she had to look inwards to understand where it went wrong for her in those big matches and decided she had to find a way to control her emotions.

“In the first set when she [Anisimova] broke me back, and then at the end of the second set when she broke me back, those were two moments where I was really close to lose control, but at that moment I told myself, 'No, it's not going to happen. It's absolutely OK',” said Sabalenka, reflecting on the US Open final.

“And that's what you expect in the final, that the player is going to fight back and will do her best to get the win. So I was just trying to focus one step at a time.”

The final in New York was a perfect showcase of Sabalenka’s mental fortitude and a true sign of her personal growth.

Anisimova’s fortnight at her home Slam was just as impressive. The 24-year-old recovered from a brutal 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final two months ago to reach a second consecutive major final.

Her run to the final included a win over Swiatek in the quarter-finals and a brilliant victory over four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the final four.

The American, who returned from an eight-month mental health break at the start of 2024, was brave throughout her 6-3, 7-6 loss to Sabalenka on Saturday, fighting fire with fire in a clinical match of power-hitting tennis.

Losing two major finals must sting, but Anisimova departs New York ranked a career-high No 4 in the world, and with a legitimate shot at qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time.

“I'm motivated, and I hope I can keep working really hard to give myself more opportunities to be in more and more finals,” she declared on Sunday.