Carlos Alcaraz is the new US Open men’s champion, after a hard-fought yet decisive victory over Jannik Sinner, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. It’s Alcaraz’s sixth major (and third this year, after Australia and the French) and second US Open title (he won it in 2022).
For tennis fans, the on-court drama was more than enough to look forward to: the world’s number one men’s player and US Open defending champion (Italy’s Sinner, 24) squaring off against his chief rival and world number two (Spain’s Alcaraz, 22) in the final of the US Open. At stake wasn’t just bragging rights; the winner of today’s final would become (or remain) the world number one.
“I’m seeing you more than my family,” Alcaraz joked to Sinner at the trophy presentation. (Aside from being in a league of their own atop the ATP tour, the two have split this year’s major titles.)
Celebrities—tennis and otherwise—showed up in droves, from Dakota and Elle Fanning, Jessica Alba, Kevin Hart and Bruce Springsteen (attending his first-ever tennis match) to Irina Shayk, Walton Goggins, Usher, Martha Stewart, Lindsay Lohan, Lindsey Vonn, Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Steph Curry, Jalen Brunson, Jean Arnault, and Mindy Kaling, to name just a few. (The number of former world number ones was also daunting: Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Marat Safin, John McEnroe, and Juan Carlos Ferrero were all there to witness the unspooling of the rivalry that’s being dubbed the New Two.)
Still, it was the attendance of someone else that threw a wrinkle into today’s logistics: The somewhat belated announcement that President Trump would be at the final—as a guest of Rolex—caused some unwanted off-court drama as the start of the match was delayed by 30 minutes to allow the nearly 24,000 fans entering Arthur Ashe Stadium to move through added security measures. (The USTA also took the unprecedented step of asking broadcasters to “refrain from showing any disruptions”—which is to say, to censor what the viewing public would see—regarding Trump’s attendance. ESPN broadcasters, in the pre-match buildup, took great care to note that Trump has a history of attending the Open—though they left out the part about him being accused by two different women of sexual assault at the Open, in 1997 and 1998.)
But if the match started with thousands of fans still outside waiting in long security lines, on the court things moved with power and speed. The first game was a kind of potted, see-saw battle royale ending with Alcaraz breaking Sinner’s serve, as if to announce: Strap yourselves in, folks—this is going to be a war. (Of the 14 matches the two played before this, Sinner had won five, including this year’s Wimbledon, and Alcaraz nine, including this year’s French—though it’s worth noting that Alcaraz took six out of the last seven.)
The rest of the first set, while hard-fought, was all Alcaraz, who took it 6-2. Sinner finally broke through in the fourth game of the second set to go up 3-1, and from that point it was all Sinner in the second, until he took the set 6-3—the first time Alcaraz had surrendered a set the Open this year.
The whole match seemed to be playing out much like that see-saw first game: Alcaraz breezed through the third set, 6-1, committing only a single unforced error. And when Alcaraz broke Sinner in the fifth game of the fourth set, all Alcaraz had to do was serve out the set, and that’s what he did—though Sinner saved some drama for the end, fending off two match points before Alcaraz’s ace won the match for him. Alcaraz beamed, covered his face with his hands, beamed some more; he unleashed his new victory trademark—a golf swing using his racquet as a club; he ran into the stands and hugged his team and his family; and, back on the court, sat down awaiting the trophy ceremony knowing he’d not only avenged his heartbreaking Wimbledon loss at Sinner’s hands, but also reclaimed the world number one ranking.
“I feel at home; I feel the energy, I feel the love. I’m just trying to play my best for you guys,” Alcaraz gushed to the fans toward the end of the trophy ceremony. Then Lendl presented the championship trophy to Alcaraz and he raised it proudly over his head and kissed it as the pyrotechnics went off behind him.
Congratulations, Carlos Alcaraz! We look forward to this rivalry continuing to develop.
