{"id":205839,"date":"2025-09-06T20:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T20:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/205839\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T20:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T20:22:09","slug":"sinner-vs-alcaraz-at-us-open-is-their-3rd-grand-slam-final-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/205839\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinner vs. Alcaraz at US Open is their 3rd Grand Slam final in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> have played so often, and with so much at stake lately, that they both know the other\u2019s game so well.<\/p>\n

So is the No. 1-seeded Sinner, a 24-year-old from Italy, happy to be facing No. 2 Alcaraz, a 22-year-old from Spain, on Sunday at the U.S. Open<\/a> for the championship, the first time in tennis history the same two men will meet in three consecutive Grand Slam finals within one season<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of maybe more things, because him or me, we try to prepare the match tactically and in different ways,\u201d said Sinner, who dismissed any concern about an abdominal muscle issue that arose in his semifinal win over Felix Auger-Aliassime<\/a>. \u201cBut sometimes, it\u2019s also nice to not play against him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump plans to attend Sinner vs. Alcaraz at the US Open<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump planned to attend<\/a> the final; no White House occupant has been at Flushing Meadows since Bill Clinton in 2000.<\/p>\n

This hard-court showdown \u2014 with the winner also taking the top ranking \u2014 follows Alcaraz\u2019s victory over Sinner<\/a> erasing a trio of match points on the French Open\u2019s red clay in June for his fifth Grand Slam title and Sinner\u2019s victory over Alcaraz on Wimbledon\u2019s grass<\/a> in July for his fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great for the sport having rivalries,\u201d said Sinner, trying to become the first man to repeat as the champ<\/a> in New York since 2008, when Roger Federer won his fifth U.S. Open in a row. \u201cI\u2019m someone who loves these challenges, and I love to put myself in these positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jannik Sinner has been nearly unbeatable \u2014 except against Carlos Alcaraz<\/p>\n

Sinner has been close to unbeatable the last two seasons \u2014 except against Alcaraz<\/a>, who leads their head-to-head series 9-5.<\/p>\n

Sinner is into a fifth straight Slam final, dating to his title at the U.S. Open a year ago<\/a>, and he\u2019s 33-1 at majors in that span, the lone blemish against Alcaraz in Paris.<\/p>\n

Since the start of 2024, at all events, Sinner is 1-6 against Alcaraz and 109-4 against all other opponents.<\/p>\n

Since the start of this May, Alcaraz is 36-1, with the loss coming against Sinner at the All England Club \u2014 also Alcaraz\u2019s first defeat in a Slam final<\/a>. Alcaraz leads the tour in wins (60) and titles (six) in 2025 and has reached the finals at his past eight tournaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019m working on, just the consistency on the matches, on the tournaments, on the year, in general. Just not having up-and-downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match, just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match,\u201d Alcaraz said Friday after beating Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m thinking I\u2019m doing that in this tournament, which I\u2019m really proud about,\u201d added Alcaraz, who hasn\u2019t dropped a set over these two weeks, thanks in part to an ever-improving serve. \u201cProbably, I\u2019m just getting mature.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 1 Sinner and No. 2 Alcaraz expect adjustments in the US Open final<\/p>\n

Knowing each other so well means that Alcaraz and Sinner figure they will make \u2014 and see \u2014 some tweaks in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where they first faced off in the 2022 quarterfinals, a victory for Alcaraz<\/a> in a match that ended at 2:50 a.m. on his way to his first Grand Slam title. (Of note: Federer and Rafael Nadal never met once at the U.S. Open.)<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely, Carlos will try to do something different than he did in the Wimbledon final. And we need to prepare for that. \u2026 We\u2019ll have to come up with some small tactical changes, too,\u201d said Simone Vagnozzi, one of Sinner\u2019s two coaches. \u201cThere are always adjustments. And there will be some during this match, so we always have to be ready. Carlos, we know, can vary things a lot and try different tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is plenty of history to study.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will see what I did wrong, what I did great, in the (past) matches,\u201d Alcaraz said, \u201cjust to approach the final in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n

They are far and away the best men\u2019s tennis has to offer, no matter the surface.<\/p>\n

Whoever wins Sunday, it will be the eighth straight major that ends with Sinner or Alcaraz receiving the trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are players who are pretty complete, I\u2019d say,\u201d Sinner said. \u201cWe can change the way we play. He, I think, he does it better in his way. I make my adjustments in my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Howard Fendrich has been the AP\u2019s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/howard-fendrich<\/a>. More AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have played so often, and with so much at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":205840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[7096,1466,69,10642,57,18826,1824,405,403,9125,3886,13158,113081,62,1464,62213,67,132,68,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-205839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-bill-clinton","9":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-felix-auger-aliassime","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-howard-fendrich","14":"tag-jannik-sinner","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-novak-djokovic","18":"tag-rafael-nadal","19":"tag-roger-federer","20":"tag-simone-vagnozzi","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-tennis","23":"tag-u-s-open-tennis-championships","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115159219788733393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}