Best Tennis Matches 2025: Alcaraz & Sinner Highlights

The season 2025 has come to an end and has left us with a multitude of quotes that will last in the memory of tennis fans. All-out wars, battles decided at the last moment, duels for the title that turn into wars and the occasional unforgettable dance: after twelve months of maximum intensity, it is time to review and recount those that have been the best games of the yearten duels that, even today, make us smile every time they are remembered. Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic…nothing can go wrong in a recount that serves as a preview of better games in 2026.

10 – Lorenzo Musetti d. Alexander Zverev 7-6(1), 6-4, Rome final match

An artist using the clay of the Foro Italico as a personal canvas. The confirmation match for Lolo, the one that showed that his great appearance in Monte Carlo, where he reached the final, was not a mirage. The tennis and mental evolution of the transalpine was put to the test against Sascha who enjoyed a 6-5 and 40-0 to close the first set… and he encountered the fierce resistance of the Italian, who ended up hitting him with dropshots in the second to drive him mentally crazy and provoke that remembered press conference (he accused him of playing waiting for the opponent’s error, all this after Lolo’s drop count went to 20). An absolute exhibition, a masterclass in how to vary tennis on clay.

9 – Carlos Alcaraz d. Eighth of the end of Roland Garros

Ben Shelton came out to Philippe Chatrier convinced that he could take down Carlos Alcaraz. The first step is to believe it… and rarely have the American’s bombs been so accurate: he left Carlos a very small margin of maneuver with a clean frying pan, connecting with the Parisian stands based on enormous energy. Ben had three set points in the first set… and there, as always, the Alcaraz of the important moments emerged, the one who hits the ball and robs his rivals of the conviction to defeat him. The American sold his skin very dearly, yes, forcing a fourth set, but withstanding the explosiveness of the Murcian on the ground is an almost impossible task today. Great game and turning point in Paris.

8 – Jannik Sinner d. Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(3), Roland Garros Semifinals

Few parties contain such important symbolism as this one. The greatest moment of changing of the guard, perhaps, of a 2025 that has cemented the new winning duo at the top. Jannik Sinner endured everything that an inspired Novak threw at him and ended up winning by legs, by exhaustion, by unbreakable mentality. Dose of own medicine on a magical Parisian night, with the public devoted to a Nole who never stopped believing in his triumph. The three balls saved at the end of the third set were the final touch for the Balkan player, who saw Jannik record a spectacular record of 44 winners and 36 unforced errors under slow and heavy conditions, an unequivocal sign of the strength of his performance. A battle to remember due to its very high level, despite having been resolved in three sets.

7 – Novak Djokovic d. Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, Final of Atenas

A historic location for the last great battle (so far) of the wolf. In his new home, in a Greece that has welcomed him as one of its own, Djokovic showed that if the motivation and physicality persist, he is still capable of giving us wars to remember. A sublime Musetti contributed a lot to the cause, also on an indoor hard court, pressing the necessary buttons to make the Serbian uncomfortable… but Nole was a man with a mission: to win his 101st title, equal Roger Federer in the historical classification and, incidentally, break his shirt like Camarón. He did it in one of the celebrations of the year, culminating a titanic comeback after a very high-voltage match with peaks of drama that continued until its conclusion.

6 – Arthur Fils d. Jaume Munar 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 2-6, 0-6, 6-4, 2R de Roland Garros

In the “games impossible to explain” folder, Arthur Fils’s face appears on the front page. The Frenchman has left us several, but none as bizarre, dramatic and Kafkaesque as the one he faced Munar in Paris. Almost two and a half hours into the match and the match had just begun the third set, such an incredible intensity and pace that the Frenchman’s physique completely collapsed: physical problems in his hip and back seemed to make it impossible for Arthur to finish the match. The pills took effect for a fifth set that, yes, played with more heart than head: he saved several break points at 4-4 and, in the subsequent game, with all of France turning the Suzanne Lenglen into a cauldron, he made Jaume feel the pressure and died on the shore. A volcano of emotions, a celebration of pure rage and one of those matches that smell like a street fight that the biggest fans of this sport love so much.

5 – Novak Djokovic d. Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, Australian Open quarterfinals

Novak Djokovic’s last big performance against one of the two dominators on the circuit took place in his favorite hunting ground. A lesson in maturity, variety, management of important moments and intelligence: everything came together to subdue, tennis and mentally, an Alcaraz who fell into the wolf’s trap. Forced by some visible physical discomfort, the Serbian raised the revolutions from the second set, moving away from the physical battle at the beginning and presenting different ball trajectories and rhythms. Carlos thought, tried to adapt, wanted to play the same game… and began to rush and see how the game, almost without meaning to, was moving away from his hand. The greatest victory for the Djokovic-Murray pairing, an Australian night that served to fully vindicate Nole and that, in a way, subsequently unlocked the best version of the Murcian.

4 – Lorenzo Musetti d. Alex of Miñaur 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, RR ATP Finals

Purity, quality of hitting, drama, comeback, overturned public, winner that goes into flames, destroyed loser. Put these ingredients in the shaker and you will get one of the best thrillers of the year. It came unexpectedly, after several insipid matches in Turin, but the masterpiece that the Italian and Australian gave us still endures: Lorenzo came back from 3-5 in the third set, saving set points and sending his countrymen into ecstasy, while de Minaur, despite having an outstanding match and having his rival physically touched, saw how a new date against a top-10 team eluded him.

He would later declare that he was at the limit mentally, perhaps in the event that had left him the most emotional impact of his career, and it was no wonder: the match was one of those battles where, if there was a tie, it would be the fairest. Curiously, it was the oceanic who would end up advancing to the semifinals, but the one who will never forget this duel will be, without a doubt, Lorenzo.

3 – Carlos Alcaraz d. Arthur Son 4-6,

The match that changed everything for Carlos Alcaraz. He arrived at the Principality surrounded by doubts, with the most painful defeat of his career (Goffin, Miami), criticism for his approach to this sport and a vacation where he did not touch the racket and with tennis involved in a certain irregularity. The brilliant start of Fils, one of those names capable of matching Carlos’ intensity, explosiveness and power from deep, did not help the cause.

With 6-5, 5-5 and 0-40 in favor, everything seemed resolved. The public carried the Frenchman in their wings, who seemed hyper-confident of himself. After finishing in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells and Miami, it seemed that his moment of emancipation in the elite had arrived… but it was there that the El Palmar beast was unleashed, saving three break points and turning the match like a top in his favor. His forehand combusted, his parallels destroyed the Frenchman’s legs and the third set ended up being an exhibition that broke Arthur’s will. It is difficult to play better for a set and a half than the Frenchman, but that, against Carlos, is not enough. The victory was the turning point that the Murcian needed, one of those matches where you must go down into the mud to win, accepting your inferiority at times, and it marked the beginning of the most successful stretch of his career.

2 – Learner Tiens d. Medvedad Daniil 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1–6, 7-6(7), Secondary of Australia’s Open

Four hours and 53 minutes of battle. It wasn’t until 2:57 in the morning that the small, beardless Tien raised his arms to the Melbourne sky. He had achieved it: he had just knocked down last year’s finalist, a Grand Slam winner, and he had done so by giving him a dose of his own medicine, turning the tennis court into a chess board. One bad move by the Russian and he would fall into the North American’s trap: a game of cat and mouse, a timeless tennis that the world fell in love with for the first time on the Australian night.

The duel was not exempt from script twists: Tien enjoyed a match point to close the duel in the third set. He couldn’t take advantage of it, Daniil reacted and it seemed that we would experience a new exercise in escapism for the Muscovite, even more so after a fourth set without fight. Later, Tien would admit that he tried to hurry up to close the set because, simply, he peed and needed to go to the locker room… and if that was what freed him for the fifth, the duel wins in story: the final round was a constant power struggle, an almost total balance that the American broke in the super tiebreak. He was more patient, opened the court better and played his tennis better than the Russian: the beginning of a beautiful rivalry that, hopefully, we will live for more years on the circuit.

1 – Carlos Alcaraz d. Jannik Sinner

Words are not enough to talk about one of the best finals in the history of tennis. A miracle in the Chatrier after five hours and 28 minutes of battle, one of those matches that will be transmitted from generation to generation, as if it were a myth. That unforgettable finale, with Alcaraz falling to the Parisian clay after signing the last legendary passing shot, still makes many fans of this sport stand on end.

It served as a perfect epilogue to an unusual feature film, which gained in implausibility as the film progressed. From the three match points saved by Carlos 3-5 down, when only he himself seemed to believe in the comeback, to the break of a Jannik Sinner who seemed dying when the Murcian served for a match in the fifth set; All of this was nothing more than the prelude to a final super tiebreak that unleashed the beast, with Alcaraz entering the matrix and signing five winners based on pure faith. A marvelous performance to close a duel that will never be told with justice: an ode to tennis that is already in the Olympus of this sport.