ROME — It’s not just Grand Slam titles that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have taken turns this year.
The top two tennis players also alternate back and forth in the No. 1 rankings.
Sinner officially returned to the top spot in the ATP rankings on Monday after his victory in the Paris Masters, replacing Alcaraz, who held the honor for almost two months.
But due to the math and ranking rules, Alcaraz will return to No. 1 next Monday.
So few points now separate the Italian and the Spaniard – Sinner leads with 11,500 points to Alcaraz’s 11,250 – that it will depend on their performance at the upcoming ATP Finals in Turin to determine who ends the year at No. 1.
Although neither Sinner nor Alcaraz are playing this week – except when the ATP Finals start on Sunday – the reason the rankings will change again next Monday is because that is the day when the points from each player’s performance at last year’s finals are depreciated.
Sinner will lose next week the 1,500 points he earned for winning last year’s final, while Alcaraz will only lose the 200 points he earned after failing to reach the group stage.
Next Monday the ranking will be: Alcaraz 11,050 and Sinner 10,000.
And there is no chance for any other player to move into the top two anytime soon, as No. 3 Alexander Zverev (5,560 points), No. 4 Taylor Fritz (4,735) and No. 5 Novak Djokovic (4,580) remain far behind.
Sinner and Alcaraz have amassed their massive points totals by winning all four of this year’s majors – among other tournaments.
Sinner won the Australian Open. Then Alcaraz defeated Sinner in an epic French Open final. Sinner got revenge by beating Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. And then Alcaraz defeated Sinner again for the US Open trophy.
Complicating matters is that Alcaraz will be seeded No. 1 for the finals – even though he won’t be seeded No. 1 during that tournament.
That’s because the final uses a different ranking system: the “Race to Turin” which only takes into account the points collected during the calendar year.
Alcaraz leads Sinner by more than 1,000 points in the Race standings.
Sinner lost ground in both systems during a three-month doping suspension at the start of the year.
Sinner needs to win the ATP Finals and hope Alcaraz doesn’t reach the final to secure the year-end No. 1 for the second consecutive year.
Alcaraz must win three final matches to finish at the top of the rankings in 2025 for the second time in his career. Alcaraz became the youngest player to finish a year at No. 1 when he achieved the feat as a 19-year-old in 2022.
As for the WTA rankings, Aryna Sabalenka has already secured the year-end No. 1 spot.
Sinner enters Turin on a ten-match winning streak after titles in Vienna and Paris, will play on his favorite surface – an indoor hard court – and can expect loud support from his home fans in the final.
Alcaraz heads to Italy after losing to Cameron Norrie in his opening match in Paris and has often struggled when playing indoors.
Auger-Aliassime, Musetti is still trying to qualify
The other players to have qualified for the final so far – which includes the top eight of the Race – are: Zverev, Djokovic, Ben Shelton, Fritz and Alex de Minaur.
Parisian finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti are still battling it out for the final spot, with Musetti needing to win a tournament in Athens this week to stay ahead of the Canadian and qualify for the elite event in his home country.
However, it is also unclear whether Djokovic plans to play the final at a point in his career when he says he is focusing almost exclusively on the majors.
Djokovic, who withdrew from the final last year, will play in Athens this week.
If Djokovic withdraws, both Auger-Aliassime and Musetti would qualify for the final.
The draw for the final is scheduled for Thursday, when it may still be uncertain who the final qualifier will be.
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