Jannik Sinner, knockout with Carlos Alcaraz raises doubt of a legend from the past
The U.S. Open 2025 men’s final, won by Carlos Alcaraz against Jannik Sinner, remains one of the main topics of discussion in the tennis world. The match, in particular, seems not to have satisfied the spectator needs of one of the greats of the racquet, Boris Becker, who in the course of the podcast he curates together with Andrea Petkovic did not mince words about it.
“I am a person accustomed to telling it like it is and I can’t hide my disappointment – Becker remarked.
-I expected more from the match: congratulations, however, to Alcaraz, who compared to a year ago plays much better tennis and is able to change pace by varying strokes. He has a great serve, an effective volley, uses the backhand in slice and hits an impregnable forehand”.
Very different judgment on Jannik Sinner: “I think that, for the first time, his game was a little bit’ stagnant” sentenced the’former German tennis player, winner of the 1989 US Open after beating Ivan Lendl in four sets in the final. Very different words from those post-Wimbledon, in which Becker had been one of the first to praise the South Tyrolean’s game.
Becker’s statements represent a marked change of course from past judgments about the current world No. 2. Only in July, after Sinner’s triumph at Wimbledon, the former No. 1 had declared: “His biggest opponent is himself reflected in the mirror. He has always been very focused, his personality is unique in the world. Carlos Alcaraz can beat him when he is on a good day, even Medvedev and Fritz could get the better of him in a dry match, however on continuity Sinner is unbeatable right now”.
He is not the only German who has critically analyzed Sinner’s performance in the Flushing Meadows final. Even Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and longtime coach, has expressed a harsh judgment from the pages of ‘El Pais’: “Maybe on Sunday we didn’t see the best version of Jannik, but I venture to say that even if he had played at his best, I doubt he would have been able to counter Carlos. Murciano’s first set was one of the best, if not the best, I have ever seen him play”.
“His extraordinary tennis level, his incredible grit, his great creativity, power and intelligence left Sinner completely overwhelmed by the’intensity, variety and quality of his rival”s shots, added Toni Nadal. An assessment that comes amid an increasingly heated rivalry, on a sporting level, between the two young champions, who have been putting on a show on courts around the world in recent months.
Becker himself, commenting on the Roland Garros final between the two, had called that match ’one of the best Grand Slam finals he has ever had the privilege of commenting on” comparing it to the historic Federer-Nadal challenges at Wimbledon 2008 and Djokovic-Nadal at the Australian Open 2012.
