ATP Finals takeaway: Jannik Sinner walks the walk on making changes to Carlos Alcaraz matchup

“I was very predictable today,” Jannik Sinner said after losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open final two and a half months ago. “Now it’s going to be on me if I want to make changes or not.”

For the vast majority of tennis players, “making changes” at Sinner’s age—24—is not as simple as it sounds. By that point, it can take many months of work, typically during an off-season when you’re not competing, to add even a modest new element to your game. At a certain point, you are who you are, and you have to live and die with what you do best.

Sinner, of course, is not like the vast majority of players. This fall he made his drop shot—especially the forehand crosscourt version—a staple of his game, and he did it without sacrificing his results. Since the Open, he’s 21-1, with four titles in five events.

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Despite all of those victories, though, it wasn’t until Sunday that we found out whether Sinner’s adjustments had been a success. That’s when he took his final exam, against Alcaraz in the season-ending match at the ATP Finals in Turin. Throughout 2025, these two learned from their losses to each other, and turned the tables back around in their next important encounter. That pattern held true to the end, as Sinner lived up to his post-Open vow to “make changes” the next time he faced the Spaniard. .

Sinner’s adjustments weren’t huge or obvious. For the most part, he won the the way he has always won, with blistering pace and clinical precision from both ground-stroke wings, and some clutch serving when necessary. He and Alcaraz red-lined from start to finish, and neither wasted any time playing it safe during the rallies. But Sinner’s well-timed variations surprised Alcaraz just enough to give him the edge.

The first of those change-ups came on what would turn out to be the biggest moment of the match.

With Sinner serving at 5-6, Alcaraz made a push. He hit his first drop shot winner of the day to get to deuce, and followed that with a forehand volley winner to reach set point.

Alcaraz’s vaunted cariety look like it might win him the set. This time, though, Sinner had his own surprise in store. Forced to hit a second serve, he stunned Alcaraz, by firing a ball down the T at 117 m.p.h. to save set point. He followed that with a 105-m.p.h. forehand and a service winner to push the set to a tiebreaker.

It was there that Sinner showed off his shot-making palette in full.

At 3-2, he had to hit another second serve. Instead of ramping it up, this time he slowed it a crawl, and induced a backhand error from Alcaraz. At 4-3, Sinner lofted a delicate backhand lob on the run, and won the point with a smash. Finally, at 5-4, he brought the crowd to its most delirious roar with a topspin lob that the charging Alcaraz could only turn and watch fall for a winner.

“It was a very, very tough and close matchup,” Sinner said. “Set point in the first set, I’m extremely happy the way I handled that situation.”

“Playing against Carlos, you have to play at your best.”

Mostly I feel to be a better player than last year, I think this is the most important. It's all part of the process. I always say and believe that if you keep working and trying to be a better player, the results, they're going to come. This year it was like this. Jannik Sinner

Alcaraz finished No. 1 by a nose, but Sinner had the final word in Turin. For the second straight year, he went 5-0 to win the ATP Finals; this time he did it without dropping a set, and he closed in style, with his second win over his rival in 2025. Afterward, Alcaraz, who had his right thigh treated and wrapped during the match, could only tip his hat to the new master of indoor tennis

“I’m really happy with the level I play,” said Alcaraz, who spoke after receiving a lengthy ovation. “Someone who hasn’t lost a match on an indoor court in two years now.”

“You come back stronger after every loss,” he told Sinner.

Those last words were true of both men in 2025. The Spaniard and the Italian used their losses to each other as lessons for the future. You could see the result of that improvement this week. In Turin, each played nearly flawless tennis through five matches.

This time it was Sinner, motivated by his defeat in their most recent match, who found a new way to win.

“Celebrating this trophy at the end of the year after such an intense last couple of months, there is no better ending,” Sinner said of the work he and his team have done since the Open.

Is it any surprise that, even before the trophy ceremony was over, Alcaraz was already thinking about how he was going to reclaim his edge against Sinner in 2026?

“I hope you will be ready for next year,” Alcaraz said with a grin, “because I will be ready.”