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From the ‘Sincaraz’ takeover to the Sabalenka makeover
From the ‘Sincaraz’ takeover to the Sabalenka makeover Premium
The 2025 tennis season was dominated by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. But for the initial months, when the fallout from Sinner's twin doping violations in 2024 grabbed headlines, the rest of the time was spent marvelling at the duo's extra-terrestrial quality of play. Here is a look at how ‘Sincaraz' shaped the men's game, why Aryna Sabalenka spent the whole year at No. 1 and what Italian tennis accomplished, among other salient developments this season:
As the era of the Big Three — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — wound to a close, fans were left wondering what men's tennis would look like. Many felt that it would be up and down, about two years of intense jostling before the next creamy layer rose to the top.
But Alcaraz and Sinner have ensured one of the most seamless transitions ever witnessed. The two have swept the last eight Majors, and, remarkably, met in each of the last three Slam finals.
The season has also added new dimensions to their rivalry. Alcaraz, considered the better player on the natural surfaces, nearly lost his French Open crown to Sinner and was dethroned at Wimbledon by the Italian. But at the US Open, the Spaniard beat Sinner handsomely despite hard-courts being considered the latter's preferred turf.
Sinner did defeat Alcaraz to win the year-ending ATP Finals, but they have now unlocked areas in the match-up that hitherto seemed non-existent. Such has their excellence been that the legendary Djokovic, 38, has had to play a rather unfamiliar third-act. The Serb reached the semifinals at all four Majors, won career titles No. 100 and 101, and ended the year at No. 4. But three of his four defeats at the Slams in 2025 came against Alcaraz or Sinner. Does the 24-time Major winner have the energy at this grand old tennis age for one last dance?
For the second straight year, Sabalenka was named the WTA Player of the Year.
In 2023 and 24, she was the standout athlete, winning three Slams, reaching a final and two semifinals from seven appearances. But this season, though she won just one Major, she elevated her play further. Her maiden Roland-Garros final proved that she was more than just a hard-court star. By making a third straight semifinal at the All England Club in three visits, Sabalenka let the world know that she was adept on grass too.
Ascension: Aryna Sabalenka had a strong 2023 and 2024, winning three Slams. Although she claimed just one Major this year, the World No. 1 found a higher level. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
To a degree, the capricious finals she lost to Madison Keys (Australian Open) and Coco Gauff (French Open) called into question her mental make-up. But a brittle mind does not win a single-season-record 22 tie-breaks (88% success rate). In 2026, the Belarusian may even see the rekindling of her generational rivalry with Iga Swiatek, who went out of her comfort zone to clinch her first Wimbledon title.
That the tennis off-season is shrinking is no longer in doubt. Players have repeatedly said that the calendar was bursting at the seams.
But the problem is a function of the dysfunctional state of tennis governance. There are seven governing bodies — the International Tennis Federation (ITF), ATP, WTA and the four Majors — and each has a tournament to sell.
Apart from the regular Tour, there is the United Cup, the Laver Cup, and legacy tournaments in the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup. Three of the four Slams now stretch across three weekends and almost all Masters 1000 tournaments have ballooned to 10-day affairs from their snappy week-long earlier versions. It doesn't help that eight of the nine Masters are mandatory, and from 2028, Saudi Arabia will host a tenth.
Players, too, are far from blameless, for they are happy to earn the big bucks at exhibitions like the Six Kings Slam. In 2025, the four-day event in Riyadh guaranteed the winner $6 million, more than the prize money at any Grand Slam. Something's got to give. When and where?
In recent times, no country has had it better than Italy. It has two men in the top-10 in Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, and eight in the top-100. Among women, Jasmine Paolini has consistently stayed in the top-10. Such is the strength and depth that 2025 saw Italy winning a third straight Davis Cup and second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup.
Italy has also been hosting the ATP Finals since 2021, and was the home of the Next Gen ATP Finals from 2017 to 2022. This pedigree has been acquired meticulously. For example, in 2019, Italy hosted as many as 18 Challengers, and supplemented by first-rate coaching development programmes, the home boys won eight of those. A young Sinner secured two, and in a matter of 12 months, the lanky teen had risen from outside the top-750 to No. 78. The seeds for present-day success were perhaps sown back then.
Tennis players have been quite successful at becoming endurance athletes. Increasingly it appears that they are also turning into power athletes.
The best example from the recent past is the 5-hour 29-minute slugfest between Alcaraz and Sinner in the French Open final. The quality of shot-making, the penetrative strokes from both wings and the power and strength to execute in the sixth hour of tennis made it breathtaking.
Tennis country: No nation has had it better than Italy in recent times. Such is the strength and depth of Italian talent that 2025 saw the men lift a third straight Davis Cup. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
“You watch how hard Sinner hits the ball... it's difficult to have that intensity every single day,” Sebastian Korda told The Hindu a few months ago. “Everything's getting so much faster and everyone's getting so agile and getting into some crazy positions. On grass, you kind of used to take those little small steps. But now, everyone is playing like it's clay! It is definitely transforming in a way tennis hasn't really seen.”
There was belief that the likes of Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev, both blessed with great height and giant wingspans, could match Alcaraz and Sinner. But they seem to be disappearing like vehicles in a rear-view mirror. Can they hold a candle to ‘Sincaraz' in 2026?
There are as many as five Indian men in the doubles top-100. But the tennis worth of a nation is solely dependent on the health of the singles game, and in this, India, unfortunately, is terminally ill. There is nobody in the top-250, men or women.
There was the creditable 3-1 away win over Switzerland in a Davis Cup World Group I tie, but apart from Jerome Kym — who was ranked 155 then and is now 188 — the land of Federer and Stan Wawrinka did not pose a significant challenge.
If anything, the gulf was seen in the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs in Bengaluru where the Indian women lost to Slovenia (1-2) and the Netherlands (0-3). With doubles star Rohan Bopanna having retired, even an outside shot at Slam success will depend on World No. 21 Yuki Bhambri.
Published - December 20, 2025 12:18 am IST
Weekend Sport / tennis
Source: TheHindu
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