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Flushing Meadow, NY – Carlos Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Sunday.
The second seed gained the upper hand on the No. 1 seed with a fast-paced tactical fascinating game, ultimately determined by Alcaraz's superiority on serving and forehand, his ability to change the pace and destroy the sinner's rhythm at the rally.
This is Alcaraz's sixth Grand Slam title after his 2022 victory, second in the U.S. Open. The result brought him back to world No. 1, ending Sinner's 65-week stay in the world's highest ranking tennis world.
sports Writers, Charlie Eccleshare and Matt Futterman analyze the final and what it means to tennis.
How did Alcaraz get such a quick start?
Alcaraz developed at the U.S. Open. He has been in business since the beginning and he was once again on Sunday afternoon.
Since he broke through the sport’s peak four years ago, it’s clear that the only thing that can stop Alkaraz is Alkaraz. Even the top sinner is a button below the top Alcaraz, the Spaniard, who has been rolling since Cincinnati opened, is fully entering the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Alcaraz was a sight when he was on his toes and felt the ball, while Sinner didn't answer in the first eight games.
The first game brought Alcaraz's first serve, which included two huge forehands that made the sinner scramble. He had a stupid backhanded half on his shoelaces, and the other was on the side of his forehand. There was told when Alkaraz felt his tennis ball, and the forehand fired early was one of them. He hired the fake drop shot that turned into a forehand slice to be another, and he pulled it out of the jump.
By the early stages of the second set, he had only six unmand errors and won 12 winners. Alcaraz sends messages to sinners. He won't give anything and if Sina had any hope of competing he would have to compete from Alcaraz. This is what happened in the second set, but to the third Alkaraz, his magic and sinners had no answer.
This is not only the final expression. Alcaraz entered the game without competing, winning 35 games in 36 games and eight finals. The test for sinners is whether he can find his level, pushing him away from the boil that has been wandering for months. He finally did a great job in Game 4 of the second set when he started jumping backhand into his backhand without letting Alcaraz's stroke's height and depth push him away from baseline.
The move was stolen from Alcaraz for a while, something no one else in New York could do. From there, the question becomes whether Alcaraz can find a new level after Sinner adjusts to reach his adaptation. He can rebound from losing the second game to the third inning and the championship.
– Matt Futterman
The basic lens that makes Alcaraz advantage
Both players have destructive, world-class forehands, but in the early stages of Sunday's final, only one was fired.
In the first game alone, the sinner made four forehand mistakes, two games without being raped, to give up his early rest that he never recovered. He ended the scene with five unforced mistakes on that wing, hitting only two winners.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz offers a forehand masterclass. It wasn't just him nailing the sinners at the rally and beating the winners, but he beat the winners in the first set alone. He is also changing the way he uses it, pulling out drop shots and marking his comfortable level of fake drop shots. That's Roger Federer's favorite shot, even though he's the owner of one of the best forehands of the sport's history and is impressed by Alcaraz's production.
Sinners are usually so deadly on the forehand side that they look inadequate and try to punch holes with it. Even after Alcaraz exploited it in Paris, he did nothing to harm his forehand before Wimbledon.
Carlos Alcaraz's forehand was devastating from the start of his fight against Jannik Sinner. (Al Bello/Getty Image)
He managed to spin the table on the second set and create a howitzer cross country that helped him get his early break, but by the third set it was in trouble again. The sinner missed the nanny width and was broken directly, then put another width to give up the double rest. And Alcaraz returned to the winner and his forehand crossed.
There are two key personal battlefields in this game: forehand and service. Alcaraz has an advantage in this regard – another.
– Charlie Eccleshare
The first question for the sinner is how to return to the roost of the final
Sinner's serve is not the role of all tournaments. In the semi-finals against Félix Auger-Aliassime, during which time he was hampered by a stomach problem, Sina had a very solid day in some expensive matches with his opponents.
Against Alcaraz, he either wants to improve it greatly or get punished. Unfortunately, the sinner is the latter.
In the Wimbledon final two months ago, Sinner did not serve in the final three sets. He immediately put it here and was under pressure throughout the process. The winners have almost non-returners, known as the “plus” lens, and are usually the staple food of sinners, and almost non-existent.
At Wimbledon Sinner, he won 75% of his first point and second serve won 64%, which dropped 69% and 48% on Sunday. To align with some of his early rounds, such as against Denis Shapovalov and Lorenzo Musetti, his second win rate dropped by 50% and 52% respectively. On Sunday, he got his first serve only 48% of the time, his lowest game.
Part of it boils down to Alcaraz's pressure, which makes it harder for sinners to control the game. In Wimbledon's role reversal, it was Alcaraz who ruled with his service – like all the games he did. The entire two weeks of the third set may have been broken only in Alcaraz, but he won 83% of the first point and beat 10 ACEs on another extremely solid performance.
– Charlie Eccleshare
Tactical mastery to help Alcaraz regain the game
Alcaraz in the first set is defeating the winner and flowing into the court, but he also demonstrates another variety. Alcaraz's ability to change the height, speed and rotation of the baseline is less flashy than his down shots and Voltley's ability, but it's very effective against the Italians, who thrived at rhythms and even baseline rhythms.
Players with less competency with Alcaraz have taken advantage of this vulnerability this year. Grigor Dimitrov made two sets at Sinner at Wimbledon and sliced through the pitch curve, stirring up the lifted balls returned for the winner, while Denis Shapovalov used a similar strategy last week to go with the Italian toes with the Italian toes.
During the opening ceremony, Alcaraz's indentation on the second set and Rush's return went all out, lifting his forehand upwards in the air, jumping them out of the Sinner's strike zone and flattening it through the court.
In the second, Alcaraz is dragged into the baseline a little bit, which is perfect for sinners, especially in essence an indoor court with elements taken from the equation.
By third, Alcaraz returned to the tactics that served him well in the opener. The down shot isn't particularly good, but the slice is, getting the sinner out of the rhythm and making mistakes.
Like any match, this kind of competition usually comes down to who can get the match to play on their terms. On Sunday, that was Alkaraz.
– Charlie Eccleshare
What does this mean for the world's number one ranking
Alcaraz had one of a brief moments about nine months ago when he was no longer relentlessly polite to his competitors.
Sinners are the number one in the year. His game against every tennis player not named Alkaraz is 73-3, but against the players he really matters in the sport is 0-3.
Alcaraz was asked if he had ever given the sinner a sadness. No, Alkaraz said: “But my friends think it's fun.”
Earlier this year, Sina missed three months of tennis between the Australian and Italian Opens, while also missing out on tennis while the anti-doping suspension. At that time, Alcaraz didn’t really start the eight-finals in a row, and a few losses meant that the sinners were still sitting on the world rankings.
But the Spaniard's surge by this summer – even Wimbledon's final defeat also gave him a chance to cancel the sinner at the U.S. Open. Just like he did in the 2022 classic, Alkaraz was finally ranked No. 1. The equation is simple. Alcaraz and Sinner. Who wins a further championship.
That magnitude – and their separation from the fields – borrows the entire trajectory of the game, which is inevitable. Their meeting in the finals is the most appropriate way to solve the problem.
Alkaraz definitely felt this way. Earlier this week, he said in a press conference that playing for the No. 1 ranking added meaning to the game.
He plays like Sunday.
– Matt Futterman
What did Carlos Alcaraz say after the final?
“I want to start with Jannik. What you do this season is incredible. You have great performance in every game. I see you better than my family and I'm happy to share the court and locker room with you. You're working with the team every day, so congratulations, it's a great performance, and the whole game is a great performance.
“To my team and family: I'm so lucky to have you. You put in a lot of hard work to make me better. I'm proud of the people around me. Thank you so much. Thank you for this achievement. I love you all.”
What did Jannik Sinner say after the final?
“I want to start with Carlos and his team. They did a great job and I know there is a lot of hard work behind this show. He is better than me, so congratulations.
“For my team, thank you for supporting me and getting to know me. Working hard. It’s an incredible season, stages and games a lot. I’m so happy to share this moment with you, my family and everyone I love.
“I did my best today. I can't.”
(Top photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)