Jannik Sinner successfully defended his Nitto ATP Finals title in Turin on Sunday, using the support of a raucous Italian crowd to beat his great rival Carlos Alcaraz 7-6(4), 7-5.
World No. 1 Alcaraz and world No. 2 Sinner dominated the 2025 season, winning 13 titles between them, including all four majors. A season of double supremacy deserved nothing less than a final act on the sport’s most electric indoor stage.
Under the lights, in a crackling atmosphere, Sinner delivered redline tennis from the first to the last ball. The 24-year-old left the baseline with fierce pace and accuracy, mixing flashes of Alcaraz-like artistry including several dazzling lobs. His biggest test came at 5-6 in the first set, when he erased a set point with icy conviction. With his two hour and 15 minute victory, the Italian joined John McEnroe and Boris Becker as the only men to lift multiple Nitto ATP Finals trophies on home soil.
Sinner recovered from a break in the second set and absorbed Alcaraz’s signature variety with poise, extending his extraordinary indoor winning streak to 31 matches. His last indoor defeat came against Novak Djokovic in the final in Turin two years ago. Since then he has won indoor titles in Rotterdam, Turin (twice), Vienna and Paris and played a central role in Italy’s two Davis Cup victories.
Now 10-0 in his last two appearances at the prestigious year-end event, including a perfect 5-0 run this week, Sinner leaves Turin with a record $5,071,000 payout for the champion, the largest in tournament history. He didn’t lose a set all week and has the best Nitto ATP Finals winning percentage in history at 88.2 percent, surpassing Ilie Nastase.
Although Alcaraz, after a flawless 3-0 round-robin campaign on Thursday, became ATP Year End No. 1, presented by PIF honours, and claimed their US Open final in September, Sinner will head into the off-season buoyed by a thunderous response on home court.
The Italian still trails the pair 6-10 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but his victories at Wimbledon and now in Turin serve as a clear message that the defining battles of this era are being fought by these two.
In front of the electric crowd at the Inalpi Arena, both players came out swinging in a high-quality opening. Alcaraz escaped trouble at 2-2, 40/40 with a backhand laser down the line that clipped the paint, after which Sinner responded by hitting a backhand winner off his shins, a shot that earned a nod of approval from Alcaraz and sent the crowd into a thunderous chorus of “Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Sinner, Sinner.”
After the first set was tied at 5-4, Alcaraz was given a medical timeout due to a problem with his right leg, but he seemed untroubled by the problem despite having his leg taped up. The Spaniard advanced to set point when he hit a deft forehand drop shot, followed by a smashed volley winner, but Sinner survived with a huge second serve into the body of Alcaraz. He then hit a 170 km/h forehand winner and a big serve wide to hold and force a tiebreak. Sinner hit two stunning lobs into the breaker to lift the roof of the Inalpi Arena, before converting on his first set point to take the lead.
However, the atmosphere in the stadium quickly changed at the start of the second set when Alcaraz became the first player to break Sinner’s serve this week. The Italian hit two double faults in the match and gave Alcaraz a foothold. Still, Sinner had some luck responding. He set up a return on break point that came in and followed it up with a perfect drop shot to make it 3-3. Sinner then increased his aggression again in the closing stages of the set, scoring more first serves and earning a final serve break to record a memorable victory.
Did you know?
The 24-year-old is the ninth man to win the year-end championships in consecutive years. This century, only Lleyton Hewitt (2001-02), Roger Federer (2003-04, 2006-07 and 2010-11) and Djokovic (2012-15, 2022-23) have also achieved this feat.
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