Italy’s Jannik Sinner ended a turbulent season in the best possible fashion on Sunday, sending the Turin crowd wild as he battled past Spanish world number one and rival Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 to retain his ATP Finals title.
Sinner, backed by a raucous Italian crowd, fell to the floor after breaking his rival’s serve in the final game before racing to celebrate with his team as chants of ‘Ole, Ole, Ole, Sinner, Sinner’ rang around the Inalpi Arena, adding the prestigious year-ending tournament to the Australian Open and a landmark triumph at Wimbledon this season.
The 24-year-old also bounced back from a three-month ban which chopped out a large chunk of his season despite the World Anti-Doping Agency accepting that the Italian was accidentally contaminated with banned substance clostebol last year.
“It’s [an] amazing season… This year making four Grand Slam finals, coming here, winning here, having this big streak in end of the year, it’s amazing,” Sinner told reporters.
“But mostly I feel to be a better player than last year, I think this is the most important. It’s all part of the process. I always say and believe that if you keep working and trying to be a better player, the results, they’re going to come. This year it was like this.”
Sinner has now won 31 straight matches on indoor hard courts, a run which stretches back to the 2023 championship match at the Inalpi Arena which he lost to Novak Djokovic.
Four more indoor wins would draw him level with Djokovic’s tally set between 2012 and 2015 — the second-highest in the Open era but some way behind John McEnroe’s record of 47.
He hasn’t dropped a set at the Finals since losing that final to the Serb two years ago, and he was imperious over the week in northern Italy.
Sinner’s win was his second over Alcaraz this year and a big moment after he lost the year-end world number one spot to the Spaniard, who won eight tournaments this year and took his Grand Slam tally to six.
Alcaraz was left to rue missed opportunities at key moments of a typically tight match between the two best players in the world, with his backhand failing him when he had chances to strike.
“Right now I have some points and some shots on my mind. For example, the backhand volley that I missed. I missed a few of the backhand volleys… which I’m really disappointed in,” said Alcaraz.
“I would say that was the key because it was a really important moment that I didn’t finish the point with the backhand volley… I think that was a really important shot that I didn’t do well today. “
In a season defined and dominated by the rivalry between the two players, it seemed inevitable that they would meet in the title clash and both obliged by easing through the tournament unbeaten to set up one last dance in Turin.
It was an attritional affair, with each player rock-solid on serve until an enthralling tie-break at the end of the first set.
Sinner took the lead thanks to a brilliant lob which set up set point, and he made no mistake with a missile of a serve which Alcaraz could only limply send wide.
But Sinner immediately handed Alcaraz the advantage in the second set with two double-faults which helped hand his opponent a break of serve at the start of the frame.
Sinner hadn’t dropped a service game in the whole tournament up to that point but he broke back in game six to put the crowd on their feet.
And Sinner collapsed to the ground in joy when Alcaraz sent a backhand wide on the first championship point, before heading into the stands to share his joy with his family amid the roars of the crowd.
“I was thinking about a lot and at the same time not a lot. There was a lot of tension because if I lost that point we go into a tie-break and then it becomes a different match,” added Sinner.
“But in that moment I was probably more relieved about the end of the season. I had a similar feeling last year but it was different. This year it was a more powerful feeling for a variety of reasons. It was a really emotional moment.”
