Sinner vs. Alcaraz showdown at the US Open is their third Slam final in a row. Trump plans to attend

New York – New York (AP) – Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have played so often, and with so much play recently, that they know the game of the other so well.

The sinner No. 1, a 24-year-old man from Italy, is he happy to face Alcaraz n ° 2, a 22-year-old man in Spain, Sunday at the US Open for the championship, the first time in a tennis season?

Well, yes and no.

“We are aware of perhaps more things, because he or me, we are trying to prepare the match tactically and in different ways,” said Sinner, who rejected any concern about an abdominal muscle problem that occurred during his victory in the semi-finals over Felix Auger-Aliassime. “But sometimes it’s also nice not to play against him.”

President Donald Trump planned to attend the final; No occupant of the White House has been in Flushing Meadows from Bill Clinton in 2000.

This confrontation of the hard field – with the winner who also took the first ranking – followed Alcaraz’s victory over the sinner erasing a trio of match points on the red clay of the French Open in June for his fifth Grand Salm title and Sinner’s victory over Alcaraz over Wimbledon’s grass in July for his fourth.

“It is great that sport has rivalries,” said Sinner, trying to become the first man to repeat himself as New York champion since 2008, when Roger Federer won his fifth US Open of posting. “I am someone who loves these challenges, and I like to put myself in these positions.”

The sinner has been close to the last two seasons-except against Alcaraz, who runs their 9-5 tête-à-tête series.

Sinner is in a fifth consecutive final of the slam, dating from his title to the US Open a year ago, and he has 33-1 in Majors during this period, the only imperfection against Alcaraz in Paris.

Since the beginning of 2024, the sinner has been 1-6 against Alcaraz and 109-4 against all other opponents.

Since the beginning of May, Alcaraz has a 36-1 file, with the defeat against Sinner at the All England Club – also the first defeat of Alcaraz in a slam final. Alcaraz leads the victory tour (60) and titles (six) in 2025 and reached the final in his last eight tournaments.

“This is something I work on, just the consistency of the matches, on the tournaments, over the year, in general. Not having from top to bottom. Just the level I start the match, I just wanted to keep this level very high during the whole match,” said Alcaraz on Friday after defeating Novak Djokovic.

“So I think I do this in this tournament, of which I am really proud,” added Alcaraz, who did not drop a set during these two weeks, thanks in part to a service that is always improved. “Probably, I just become mature.”

Knowing each other so well means that Alcaraz and Sinner appear that they will make – and will see – some adjustments in the Arthur Ashe stadium, where they clashed for the first time in the quarterfinals of 2022, a victory for Alcaraz in a match that ended at 2:50 a.m. on the way his first Grand Chelem title. (It should be noted: Federer and Rafael Nadal have never met once at the US Open.)

“Surely, Carlos will try to do something different from what he did during the Wimbledon final. And we have to prepare for this. … We will also have to offer small tactical changes,” said Simone Vagnozzi, one of the two Sinner coaches. “There are always adjustments. And there will be this during this match, so we still have to be ready. Carlos, we know, can vary things a lot and try different tactics. ”

There is a lot of history to study.

“I’m going to see what I did with it, what I did good, in the (past) matches,” said Alcaraz, “just to approach the final in the right direction.”

They are by far the best tennis for men, whatever the surface.

The one who wins on Sunday, it will be the eighth consecutive major that ends with the sinner or the Alcaraz receiving the trophy.

“We are players who are quite complete, I would say,” said Sinner. “We can change our way of playing. He, I think, he does it better on his way. I make my adjustments on my way. ”

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More tennis AP: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis