Jannik Sinner, this time there was no way to prevent what was destined to happen: unfortunately, that’s what happened.
Three and a half hours of play and an ending that was nothing short of pyrotechnic. A very close, point-to-point battle, the epilogue of which, although bitter for the Italians, gave us back a small certainty that we can treasure: the fact, that is, that the rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will keep us company for a long, long time. There will be no boredom, in short, in the years to come. Far from it.
The two champions of the Atp circuit gave us a new and spacey battle, chock-full, from the first to the last moment, of exchanges that left fans speechless. And it was a pity that in the end a winner had to be proclaimed, because they both deserved, in equal measure, to raise to the sky the cup up for grabs in Beijing. This time that honor fell to the Spaniard, but everything can be said except that the Italian did not try, literally, until the end.
What not everyone realized, however, is that the phenomenon from Murcia did not only bring home the prestige resulting from the fifth 500-category title brought home during his fantastic career. He also managed to put the seal on a feat in which no one else, at least until now, had succeeded.
Furia Alcaraz, took everything from him…or almost everything
By beating him in the finals in Beijing, Alcaraz took away Sinner’s dream of continuing the long string of records and victories that, painstakingly, he has lined up during this simply insane season.
In the meantime, Jannik succumbed for the first time in 2024 in the finals after winning 6 out of 6. The streak of consecutive wins also came to a halt: after 15 victories, the world number 1 “surrendered” – so to speak, having been beaten, as we said, in the manner of a bull – to the blind fury of his friend and Iberian rival. A double satisfaction, then, for Carlos, who along with Tsitsipas, Medvedev and Rublev is the only one to have been able, from January to today, to beat the Alto Adige champion.
Sinner is still left, however, with the record in tie-breaks. He has played 20 of them in total and has won as many as 18: one he lost to Russia’s Medvedev, the other, in fact, to Carlos, in the final in Beijing. Alcaraz, dulcis in fundo, has also caught up with him relative to the total number of Atp titles: they have won 16 apiece, although the El Palmar native counts, in that sum, twice as many Slams as Jannik has won in his current state.
