By Ross Kelly
The 2025 Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final is set with top-seeded Jannik Sinner facing off against second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz. It may not be the sentimental final that many wanted, as Novak Djokovic came up short by losing to Sinner, but it will be a matchup of the two best players in the world who have dominated Grand Slams as of late.
These two have won each of the last six Grand Slams, with Alcaraz the two-time defending Wimbledon champion. The 2025 final will take place Sunday at 11 a.m. ET from the All-England Club in London.
The Italian, Sinner, had an easy path to the final—each of his leadup matches ended in three sets. However, he saw turbulence in the fourth round against Grigor Dimitrov as Sinner trailed by two sets in the third before Dimitrov suffered another untimely injury, which forced him to retire. Sinner then defeated Ben Shelton and Djokovic in straight sets to reach his first Wimbledon final and fourth straight final overall at a major.
Alcaraz had a much rockier road to become the 10th man to reach three straight Wimbledon finals. He was pushed in his opening match, needing five sets to defeat unseeded Fabio Fognini, who announced his retirement from tennis after the match. Alcaraz then dropped a set in both his third- and fourth-round matches, and did so again in his semifinals win over American Taylor Fritz.
Despite their divergent paths to reach this point, and despite Sinner being the World No. 1 and the tournament’s top seed, Alcaraz is the favorite based on history between the two. The Spaniard is 8-4 against Sinner, including five straight wins entering Sunday’s contest. They’ve met twice this year, both times on clay: in the French Open Final in June and in the Italian Open Final in May. Alcaraz won in straight sets in the Italian’s home country before rallying from two sets down to knock off Sinner at Roland Garros.
Eleven of their 12 meetings have come either on clay or on a hard court, and Sinner can take solace in the fact that their one prior matchup on grass went his way. It came in the Round of 16 at the 2022 Wimbledon—when Sinner was 20 and Alcaraz was 19. Sinner won in four sets before losing to the eventual champion, Djokovic, in five sets in the quarterfinals.
With a 5-0 record in Grand Slam title matches, Alcaraz is cementing a reputation as a big-match player. That record, however, doesn’t include a loss in the 2024 Summer Olympics final to Djokovic, albeit the format for that was best of three sets, instead of best of five. Alcaraz brings a 24-match winning streak into Sunday’s final that includes winning the Italian Open, the French Open, and the HSBC Championships, which also took place in London. He’s also won 20 straight matches at the All-England Club.
A third straight Wimbledon championship for Alcaraz would make him the fifth man in the Open Era to three-peat at the tournament, and he’d be the seventh man to have at least three Wimbledon championships. It would also mean a sixth Grand Slam title, which would tie him with Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker, among others, at just 22 years old. By comparison, Djokovic, who owns a record 24 Grand Slams, had just one major at age 22.
A Sinner victory would also move him up the Grand Slam wins rankings as it would be his fourth, all coming since the start of 2024. He’d also move to three-fourths of the Career Grand Slam—he already owns a pair of Australian Open wins and a U.S. Open. This would be his first major victory that wasn’t on a hard court. His three current Grand Slams are tied with Stan Wawrinka, so a fourth would make a clear pecking order among active players with major wins of Djokovic at No. 1, Alcaraz at No. 2, and Sinner, outright, at No. 3.
Sinner and Alcaraz are less than two years apart in age, so this rivalry could carry men’s tennis for the next decade or so, just as Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal did previously, as well as Pete Sampras versus Andre Agassi before that. Sunday’s match hasn’t even occurred yet, but Sinner and Alcaraz have already been installed as the favorite and second-favorite, respectively, for the next major at the U.S. Open in August.
We are guaranteed to have them combining for seven straight Grand Slams by the time that major rolls around, but which of them has four of those wins and which has three will be decided Sunday.
