'I had to overcome a lot' – why winning US Open means more to Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka had already won three Grand Slam titles but, following adversity this year, her celebration after another US Open triumph was telling.
Aryna Sabalenka had already won three Grand Slam titles but, following adversity this year, her celebration after another US Open triumph was telling.
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will meet in a highly anticipated US Open final on Sunday, the latest chapter in one of the sport’s most electrifying rivalries.
The Italian Sinner is seeking to defend his title at Flushing Meadows and capture his fifth major crown overall. Alcaraz is aiming for his sixth major trophy and second at the US Open, where he was crowned champion as a 19-year-old in 2022.
Sunday’s champion will also depart New York as No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings — with a hefty payday in tow.
The champion will claim $5,000,000, while the runner-up will earn $2,500,000. Look below for a full prize-money breakdown of the singles field at the season’s final major.
2025 US Open Singles Prize Money (Men & Women)
| Round | Prize Money |
| Champion | $5,000,000 |
| Finalist | $2,500,000 |
| Semi-finalist | $1,260,000 |
| Quarter-finalist | $660,000 |
| R16 | $400,000 |
| R32 | $237,000 |
| R64 | $154,000 |
| R128 | $110,000 |
World number one Aryna Sabalenka lands a first major of the year after seeing off home hope Amanda Anisimova to retain her US Open title.
Carlos Alcaraz will have a chance Sunday to become the first man in the Open Era to win the US Open without losing a set.
The Spaniard has not dropped a set through six matches in New York and has lost just 58 games in 18 sets, for an average of just more than three games per set. He has only needed two tie-breaks.
“For me it’s great. It’s something that I’m working on, just the consistency in the matches, in the tournaments, in the year in general,” Alcaraz said. “Just not having ups and downs in the match. Just the level that I start the match [with], just wanted to keep that level really high during the whole match.
“So I’m thinking I’m doing that in this tournament, which I’m really proud about. Yeah, let’s see. But probably I’m just getting mature. I just getting to know myself much better, what I need on, off the court. The things that I’m doing off the court I think I’m doing really, really well, which helps a lot, and to play my best tennis. I think it’s getting better.”
Only five men in the Open Era have won a major without losing a set: Ken Rosewall (1971 Australian Open), Ilie Nastase (1973 Roland Garros), Bjorn Borg (1976 Wimbledon, Roland Garros 2x), Roger Federer (2007 Australian Open, 2017 Wimbledon) and Rafael Nadal (Roland Garros 4x).
Men to win a major without losing a set (Open Era)
| Player | Tournaments |
| Ken Rosewall | 1971 Australian Open |
| Ilie Nastase | 1973 Roland Garros |
| Bjorn Borg | 1976 Wimbledon, Roland Garros 2x |
| Roger Federer | 2007 Australian Open, 2017 Wimbledon |
| Rafael Nadal | Roland Garros 4x |
Alcaraz is a five-time major champion and the least number of sets he has dropped during a championship run is four, when he claimed glory at Wimbledon in 2023. The second seed will take on Jannik Sinner or Felix Auger-Aliassime for the trophy.
The last player to win the tournament without dropping a set was Neale Fraser in 1960, when it was known as the US Championships and not open to professionals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]A dejected Amanda Anisimova says she “didn’t fight hard enough for my dreams” in her US Open final loss to Aryna Sabalenka.
Ivan Ivanov won his second consecutive major title by defeating fellow Bulgarian Alexander Vasilev 7-5, 6-3 in the US Open final Saturday.
“I played great, and our thoughts came through. We met Alexander in the final,” Ivanov said. “[It was a] full Bulgarian final and full Bulgarian crowd. I’m very happy that this happened, and I’m very happy that I took success today.”
The 16-year-old converted five of his nine break points and hit 19 winners to surge to victory in 74 minutes. The top seed saved two of the four break points he faced against his fifth-seeded opponent.
“He came back. He started putting more pressure on me, and I really felt it,” Ivanov said. “I tried to escape, and I tried to make those moments come as short as possible, which I’m very happy [about] today, because I managed to do it very short. And at 5-All, I managed to break back and then take my serve. So I’m very happy with that.”
Ivanov became the third boy this century to win Wimbledon and the US Open in the same season, joining countryman Grigor Dimitrov and Filip Peliwo. It was a special end to his major campaign, in which he climbed to No. 1 in the ITF Junior Rankings.
“I mean, look at the city. We’re in an enormous city, in such a big stadium sometimes,” Ivanov said. “The crowd, the people, the organisation, it’s everything that makes that tournament special.”
The 16-year-old trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar and received congratulations from Nadal himself Saturday.
“Congratulations Ivan on winning @Wimbledon & @usopen Junior 🏆!” Nadal posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Congrats also to all the @rnadalacademy team! 👏🏻👏🏻”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Congratulations Ivan on winning <a href=”https://twitter.com/Wimbledon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Wimbledon & @usopen Junior 🏆!
Congrats also to all the @rnadalacademy team! 👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/gqzkgK3Lw2
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) September 6, 2025
British pair Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski suffer heartbreak against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the US Open men’s doubles final.
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on Sunday when they won the US Open.
The Spanish-Argentine duo will make its sixth consecutive appearance at the season finale, which will take place at Inalpi Arena in Turin from 9-16 November.
Granollers will compete in the year-end championships for the 10th time, having earned his place in the event four times — with Marc Lopez and Ivan Dodig — before partnering Zeballos. He lifted the trophy in 2012 with Lopez and made the championship match in 2023 with Zeballos, who has only played in the Nitto ATP Finals with the Spaniard.
Entering the season, the veterans had never combined for major glory. They not only did just that at Roland Garros, but repeated the feat at Flushing Meadows.
Granollers and Zeballos also claimed an ATP Masters 1000 crown in Madrid and lifted the trophy in Bucharest. They are 3-0 in finals so far this year.
The six-time qualifiers are the second team to earn their place in Turin so far, joining Wimbledon champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have qualified in singles.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos endured a long wait for their first Grand Slam title as a team. Now, they have won two in the space of four months.
Granollers and Zeballos pulled off a remarkable escape from three championship points down to overcome Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 on Saturday and claim the US Open trophy. With their thrilling two-hour, 24-minute win, the Spanish-Argentine duo became the first men’s doubles team to win multiple majors in a season since 2019.
The 14-time tour-level titlists Granollers and Zeballos have enjoyed consistent success since joining forces in 2019 but they were 0-3 in Grand Slam finals until their Roland Garros triumph in June, when they also defeated Salisbury and Skupski 7-5 in the deciding set to lift the trophy. On Saturday in New York, they showcased cool under pressure to hold off Salisbury and Skupski, crucially rallying from 0/40 at 3-3 in the second set before doing the same when three championship points down at 4-5, 0/40 in the third.
Having let slip two break points in the following game, Granollers then produced the pivotal moment of the match. He fired a rocket forehand return winner against a Skupski serve down the middle, and the Spaniard then served out to clinch the title.
Now up to second in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Granollers and Zeballos are in strong contention to secure Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours. They trail leaders Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool by just 830 points.
More to follow…
[NEWSLETTER FORM]There could hardly be a more fitting way to round out the 2025 Grand Slam season than a US Open showdown between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The great rivals, who between them have lifted the past seven major titles, will make history in New York when they become the first players in the Open Era to contest three Grand Slam title matches in the same season. Yet unlike their championship-match clashes at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, there will be a double prize on the line when Sinner and Alcaraz meet inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday from 2 p.m. EDT/8 p.m. CEST.
Whoever clinches the title in New York will simultaneously ensure that they are No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday. Sinner has held top spot for 65 consecutive weeks, while Alcaraz is aiming to return to a position he last held in September 2023.
Sunday’s winner-takes-all blockbuster could also be crucial in the battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours. Alcaraz leads Sinner by 1,890 points in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, but the Italian can close that gap to 1,190 points with the New York title. Both players have already qualified for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
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Sinner and Alcaraz’s rivalry has developed into one of the most gripping in modern sport, and it was in New York three years ago when it first charged into the public consciousness. Alcaraz saved a match point in an epic five-set quarter-final victory en route to the 2022 US Open title.
Any on-court tussle between the two since has been preceded by intense hype and anticipation, and both players have regularly responded by producing scintillating performances. Yet before this year at Roland Garros, Sinner and Alcaraz had not met in a Grand Slam final. As the duo prepares for its third consecutive title match at a major, that gap in their rivalry now seems a distant memory.
“I love these challenges. I love to put myself in these positions,” said Sinner on Friday when asked for his thoughts on yet again having Alcaraz as his final opponent. “He’s someone who pushed me to the limit, which is great, because then you have the best feedback you can have as a player. We have faced each other quite a lot now lately, so things are getting a little bit different.
“Always when we step on court, we are aware of maybe more things, because him or me, we try to prepare the match tactically and in different ways… It’s great for the sport having rivalries, having hopefully great matches in front of us. And then we’ll see. I’m someone who loves these challenges, and I love to put myself in these positions and to see how it goes.”
The rematch everyone wanted 🤩@janniksin 🆚 @carlosalcaraz for the title! 🏆@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/RRzpZzaWbA
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 6, 2025
Alcaraz enters Sunday’s final with a 9-5 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Sinner, and their New York showdown will be the fifth meeting between the pair in 2025. All of those have been finals, with Alcaraz triumphing in Rome, at Roland Garros (after coming back from two sets down and saving three championship points) and in Cincinnati (where Sinner retired due to illness), and Sinner prevailing at Wimbledon.
“I always take things [from] the previous matches. If I’m playing against Jannik, obviously I’m going to take things about the last matches that I’ve played against him,” said Alcaraz after his semi-final victory against Novak Djokovic in New York. “The last one or the last three matches, I’m going to take note, and I will see what I did wrong, what I did great in the matches, just to approach the final in a good way.”
Both Sinner and Alcaraz have been in imperious form this fortnight at Flushing Meadows. Top seed Sinner, who is on a 27-match winning streak at hard-court majors, has dropped just two sets across his six matches, while second seed Alcaraz has not dropped a set and was clinical in seeing off record 24-time major titlist Djokovic in the last four. Even after all their successes so far, however, both players have frequently spoken about their constant desire to keep developing.
“I think physically he has improved a lot, and that obviously wasn’t a secret,” said Alcaraz of Sinner, who took a medical timeout for a stomach issue during his semi-final win against Felix Auger-Aliassime but later declared it was ‘nothing to worry about’. “He has spoken about the physical conditions that he has to improve, and I think the last year, the last two years, he has improved a lot physically.
“His matches are really demanding physically that he’s able to play at his 100 per cent during two, three, four hours, and I think that’s the biggest improvement he has made in the last years.”
Men To Win 3 Major Singles Titles In Single Season (Open Era)
| Player | Year Won 3 Majors |
| Rod Laver | 1969 (Won all 4) |
| Jimmy Connors | 1974 |
| Mats Wilander | 1988 |
| Roger Federer | 2004, 2006-07 |
| Rafael Nadal | 2010 |
| Novak Djokovic | 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023 |
| Jannik Sinner? | 2025? (Would win 3 with US Open triumph) |
Sinner, a relentlessly clean baseline ball-striker, will be eager to make early inroads on return in Sunday’s final. After defeating Auger-Aliassime, the Italian specifically mentioned Alcaraz’s serving when asked about his rival’s strengths. The Spaniard has lost just two service games across his six matches in New York so far, and he has faced only nine break points overall.
“He has improved a lot the serve,” said Sinner of Alcaraz, who is 54-6 for the season according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. “I feel like he’s serving much better with the better pace, but the percentage is very high all the time. Much more solid, for example, because maybe before there were more ups and downs. Now he’s very consistent.
“If you watch all the tournaments, he’s going very, very far. So many, many improvements. But I always say that when you are young, you know, one year or two years, they make big difference.”
While it hardly seems believable that the 24-year-old Sinner (an owner of four major titles) and 22-year-old Alcaraz (five major titles) can improve much on the mesmeric level they have repeatedly shown, fans have become increasingly accustomed to witnessing the unexpected from both stars. Sunday afternoon inside the 23,000-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium is the perfect setting for another thrilling instalment of a rivalry that keeps on giving.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]