Jannik Sinner may not have finished the year as the world number one, but he certainly looked like the best player in the world when he defeated Carlos Alcaraz to win the ATP Finals.
It has been another impressive season for the Italian, who clinched another six tour-level titles to bring his overall tally up to 24.
Despite serving a three-month ban during his campaign, Sinner maintained his spot at the top of the rankings from January until September, having been just as dominant as he was last year.
Two of his six titles were claimed at Grand Slams, with the 24-year-old defending his Australian Open crown before securing a maiden Wimbledon championship.
He and his rival, Alcaraz, have taken the sport to new heights in 2025, but Tommy Paul‘s coach, Brad Stine, thinks the two have gone about improving their games differently.
Brad Stine discusses Jannik Sinner’s improvements in 2025
Speaking on ‘Tennis Channel‘, Stine said: “I think one of the reasons Jannik won at Wimbledon is because he’s doing different things based on what he feels he has to do to be able to compete with Carlos.
“Jannik clearly is coming forward more, attacking a little bit more than he was before. Carlos is making some tweaks to little technical things.
Is Jannik Sinner currently the best player in the world?
“I think it’s always interesting that when you see throughout the season, guys at that level who are willing to make adjustments in their game, and they are doing it through the season.
“They are not waiting until the off-season or other things like that. They are not major changes, but they are little things that coaches themselves are feeling they need to be looking at and dealing with.
“It goes to show that you are always striving to be better. Those guys are always striving to be better. I think the reason that Carlos and Jannik are now doing a little bit of what the previous generation was doing in maintaining their strong hold at the top is that they are not satisfied.
“They are also smart enough to know that they can’t be satisfied. They constantly have to be looking at what they can get better at.
“And it’s little tiny tweaks. It’s not major aspects. We are not going to see them change their games enormously, but you see little tactical and technical things that they are making adjustments with.”
Jannik Sinner’s victories over Carlos Alcaraz this season
Sinner and Alcaraz have played each other six times this season, and each of their meetings has come in tour-level finals.
Heading into the Wimbledon final, the head-to-head was starting to look slightly one-sided, with the Spaniard on a five-match winning streak against his rival.
Do you think Carlos Alcaraz will win the Australian Open in 2026?
Sinner snapped the streak at the All England Club, which marked his first win over Alcaraz since the 2023 season.
He then lost two more matches against Alcaraz, retiring due to illness during their Cincinnati Open title bout, and suffering a four-set defeat in the US Open final.
But in the title bout at the ATP Finals, Sinner got his second win of the season over Alcaraz, winning in straight sets to hoist the year-end trophy.
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