2025 US Open Final: Alcaraz vs. Sinner

[kskate2]

alright gang, thanks for not misbehaving. I'm turning off the chat. Please take all further comments to the match thread

 

[Vince Evert]

now, average second serve speed.

Sinner -155 km/h

Alcaraz - 157 km/h

 

[El Dude]

Some new guys will come along. Can't see any of the current crop challenging Sinner or Alcaraz, can any of you ?

For the sake of the sport, there better be some new faces that comes along.

Part of what we're seeing with the big gap between Sincaraz and the field, is that the "second tier" is in transition: Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Rublev etc are fading, but there isn't a strong group to take the baton. Meaning, it is a bit of a valley...those guys are fading, but Draper, Fils, Musetti, Shelton, Rune, Mensik, etc, are still rising, or at least it is unclear what their peaks are.

But it remains to be seen if any of those guys will be good enough to challenge. Of the ones I mentioned, Draper has been a bit disappointing this year as he hasn't done anything since winning Indian Wells. I think Musetti is really more of a 3rd tier (top 20) guy who is having a good run, but will never be a serious Slam contender. Rune - no comment. Shelton is a bit of a wildcard. Of these guys, he is one I could see having a great run and upsetting one of Sincaraz. Mensik (and Fonseca) have the talent, but are probably at least a year or two away from being serious threats to Sincaraz.

 

[Moxie]

9 Frontiersmen voted for Alcaraz in 4. Apparently, that was the smart vote.

 

[Vince Evert]

Part of what we're seeing with the big gap between Sincaraz and the field, is that the "second tier" is in transition: Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Rublev etc are fading, but there isn't a strong group to take the baton. Meaning, it is a bit of a valley...those guys are fading, but Draper, Fils, Musetti, Shelton, Mensik, etc, are still rising.

But it remains to be seen if any of those guys will be good enough to challenge. Of the ones I mentioned, Draper has been a bit disappointing this year as he hasn't done anything since winning Indian Wells. I think Musetti is really more of a 3rd tier (top 20) guy who is having a good run, but will never be a serious Slam contender. Shelton is a bit of a wildcard. Of these guys, he is one I could see having a great run and upsetting one of Sincaraz. Mensik (and Fonseca) have the talent, but are probably at least a year or two away from being serious threats to Sincaraz.

Yes that's true. I thought and hoped by now De Minaur might develop more variety including power on his serve and groundies to challenge them but can't see that he'll ever be able to improve.

 

[Vince Evert]

9 Frontiersmen voted for Alcaraz in 4. Apparently, that was the smart vote.

Me too, Mox !

I think that most of had him winning in four.

 

[Moxie]

BTW, @Jelenafan asked if Carlos would be the crowd favorite. I didn't notice any especial preference. I think they're both very popular with the crowds.

 

[El Dude]

Yes that's true. I thought and hoped by now De Minaur might develop more variety including power on his serve and groundies to challenge them but can't see that he'll ever be able to improve.

I think at one point I compared De Minaur to David Ferrer, if only in that both had/have a high floor and consistent level of good to very good play, but a low ceiling - neither ever wowed me (though I think Ferrer was better at his best, and probably would have won a Slam or two if born 5-10 years earlier). You could add in Casper Ruud as a similar type. For me, De Minaur can win a Masters or two, but I'd be very surprised if he wins a Slam. If you squint, you can imagine Ben Shelton continuing to evolve and going on an explosive run and winning a Slam. I just can't see that with De Minaur.

 

[atttomole]

alright gang, thanks for not misbehaving. I'm turning off the chat. Please take all further comments to the match thread

I wasn't able to see the chat. Do you have an idea why?

 

[El Dude]

I will say that despite the dominance of Sincaraz, I think we will continue to see a nice diversity of Masters winners. Jannik and Carlos are great, but they are just two - Fedalkovic were three, and even as Roger faded or one of the other two struggled for a bit, the others picked it up, plus you had Andy in the mix. Meaning, we won't see anything like 2011 or 2013 when the Big 3-4 won every big title (and all but one in 2012). And I just don't see it being anything other than a Big Two for the next year or two. Maybe by 2028, someone has emerged to make it a trio or quartet, but that's not a foregone conclusion.

But even as the two have won the last eight Slams, and the last ATP finals, they've only won 7 of 16 Masters in 2024-25. That at least makes the Masters a bit interesting and diverse. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to see them win all 4 Slams and 7-8 Masters next year.

 

[atttomole]

I think at one point I compared De Minaur to David Ferrer, if only in that both had/have a high floor and consistent level of good to very good play, but a low ceiling - neither ever wowed me (though I think Ferrer was better at his best, and probably would have won a Slam or two if born 5-10 years earlier). You could add in Casper Ruud as a similar type. For me, De Minaur can win a Masters or two, but I'd be very surprised if he wins a Slam. If you squint, you can imagine Ben Shelton continuing to evolve and going on an explosive run and winning a Slam. I just can't see that with De Minaur.

Ferrer is the greatest journeyman in tennis history.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Congratulations Carlos, way too good for Sinner today and you deserved your USO title!
Congratulations on returning to the No 1 position!
Carlos at age 22 is just a 'special player to watch' and I am looking forward to watching both players Carlos and Sinner 'live at the AO' in 2026!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Carlos Alcaraz,
2nd youngest ever to win 6 GS titles after Borg
4th and youngest ever to win multiple slams in all surfaces ( only Wilander, Djokovic, Nadal did this)
He is 22 yo.

 

[Vince Evert]

 

[Vince Evert]

Alcaraz Please, whatever you do! Grow back your hair and never shave again, LOL

He used to have the best head of hair i've seen. The envy of many a male especially an old bag of bones like me

 

[Vince Evert]

Carlos Alcaraz,
2nd youngest ever to win 6 GS titles after Borg
4th and youngest ever to win multiple slams in all surfaces ( only Wilander, Djokovic, Nadal did this)
He is 22 yo.

He's going to rule and control the sport for next 3-4 years.

Hey Margaret did Sinner look restricted to you ? In particular with movement around the court?

 

[Vince Evert]

Margaret, me again !

Have you notice the uncanny resemblance with Carlos 2025 victory with Nadal's 2010 US Open ? Both guys only lost one set of tennis the entire championships - the second set, in the final - to their respective arch rivals.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

He's going to rule and control the sport for next 3-4 years.

Hey Margaret did Sinner look restricted to you ? In particular with movement around the court?

Sinner's serve let him down, for starters, but he wont give excuses, either will I, the better player won today that was Carlos, Jannik also said that.

 

[Kieran]

Great statement win for Carlos. Now has 2 slams on each of the three surfaces - the youngest to do it. For context, Rafa and Novak were in their thirties when they achieved that. Mats is the other, he was 23, but his 2 grass court titles were in Australia when it was still transitioning out of mediocrity.

He's back at number one as well. Today’s match is what I meant when I said he’d much better than Sinner, but he’ll need a steady period of dominance to rubberstamp it. Hopefully he focuses on Australia as his priority now. A career Slam at 22 would be 2 years younger than Rafa. Hard to believe he could have two career slams by the age of 23 - still younger than Rafa’s first CS.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Great season for the two of them, with a 3-match H2H in slams which went to the returning world number one.

Delighted for Carlos. He’s the most exciting player to hit tennis since Fedal…

 

[Vince Evert]

Sinner's serve let him down, for starters, but he wont give excuses, either will I, the better player won today that was Carlos, Jannik also said that.

To me, it's not a matter of excuse, it's a fact. The two guys put on a better, more competitive U S Open match three years ago.