Another week for men's tennis brought another gap that separated Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner from the ATP Tour.
After world number one Alcaraz lost a match on his way to Tokyo to win the Japan Open, Sinner lost only one couple on his way to the Chinese Open. Sinner is second in the world, defeating the surpassing learner Tien 6-2, 6-2 in the Beijing final.
The two champions did not reveal the deficit between the top two and their contenders, but the tennis rankings did not. Alcaraz had the highest score, with 11,540 points. Sinner is second with 10,950. Next is Alexander Zverev ranked third, with…5,980.
The spread between Sinner and Zverev is 4,970. Taylor Fritz is the fourth-placed world in the field rankings, with 4,995 points, so if a fictional tennis player (called them the T. deficit) separates his ranking from the Sinners and Zverev, they will be fifth in the world, ahead of Novak Djokovic.
The Sinner also missed three months and several games this season due to the anti-doping ban.
The injured absence of Jack Draper and Ben Shelton were one of the most exciting players on the chase team, and their gap widened from the court. Draper won a full-scale victory for Alcaraz in March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
At least for who will be the world number one at the end of the year, Sinner is in a better position now, after Alcaraz exits the Shanghai Championship to solve “some physical problems.” With points won in 2025 alone, the gap between Sinner and Alcalaz is 2,590. If the Italian wins the Shanghai Masters for the second consecutive year, it can be cut by 1,000 points.
Another measure of the dominance of Alkaraz and the Sinners is that only this season they have won more first ten wins than Tien. The 19-year-old American ranked 33rd in the live rankings, beating four top 25 players to the China Open finals.
After a comfortable loss of the first set on Wednesday, he brought the game to Sinner in Game 2 and gained recognition with some of his whipped forehands, but ended up losing with the same score after Sinner endured a few breakout points. Tien is a left-handed, very good at creating angles and moving opponents to uncomfortable positions before changing pace, especially on his seemingly explosive forehand.
Sina is now in the Shanghai Masters, facing a group of players who have won a victory throughout the year: Alexander Bublik's victory at the Harley Open in Germany in June.
(Photo: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)