Gigi Salmon reflects on how Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner cleaned up in 2025 and what's to come from the top two players on the men's tour in 2026? The commentator weighs up who can compete with the world No 1 and No 2 in her latest SportsNews column.

In the words of my 10-year-old boys, 'wait, what?' Those two words immediately came to mind when a fact was unearthed by tennis journalist Bastien Fachan the day after the ATP Finals that was won by defending champion Sinner, that highlighted there really is nothing to separate the Italian and his arch-rival Alcaraz.

The final in Turin was the 16th career meeting between the two standout players.

Over the course of their rivalry they have played 3,302 points against each other with both winning 1,651.

I won't blame you if you go back and read that last sentence again, I read the post on X by Bastien a couple of times, but remarkably it is true and in some way feels fitting especially when you compare it to the head-to-head which looks a touch lopsided with Alcaraz leading 10-6 and 4-2 this year, with all six of those meetings coming in finals.

With both players now having shut down their 2025 season - Sinner through choice and Alcaraz through injury - missing the Davis Cup Finals, they have both put together another very impressive year.

The 2025 season will go down as Alcaraz's best season to date: Year-end No 1 for a second time, which was confirmed at the Tour finals. 71 wins, eight titles from 11 finals with just nine defeats, adding another two Grand Slam titles taking his career Grand Slam total to six and all at the age of just 22.

Sinner's season was no less impressive when you consider that he spent three months sidelined due to his suspension but was still in the running to end the year as world No 1 right up until the final event.

His numbers saw him pick up 58 wins, six titles from 10 finals with just six defeats. He also added another two Grand Slam titles in Australia and Wimbledon. From the 12 events he entered he only failed to make the final on two occasions and is now on a run of 31 matches unbeaten indoors.

The beauty of this rivalry is that they continue to push each other, Alcaraz beat Sinner in a fifth-set tie-breaker in the French Open final; Sinner got revenge at Wimbledon. Alcaraz won again at the US Open, after which Sinner said he wanted to be less predictable and add variety and then Sinner defended his ATP Finals title before his home fans in Turin.

One thing that stood out from Sinner in Turin was his serve, something he spoke of after his loss in the final in New York.

"I'm going to change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but you know, they can make big differences."

So in the full glare of the ongoing season and a run that saw Sinner lose just one match following the US Open final defeat for the rest of the campaign and pick up four titles, he made the changes with coach Simone Vagnozzi.

"We changed the motion. We changed the rhythm. He served really well from Shanghai until here, on the serve, we changed a lot of things after the US Open. We are lucky to have Jannik, who is really fast to improve, to understand the changes and everything."

We know that Alcaraz and Sinner will continue to improve and get better and in the words of Felix Auger Aliassime: "The facts are they're a level above everyone, the ranking doesn't lie. They're the two best players. That's the facts. Different game styles, but both put extreme pressure on their opponent in different ways. They keep showing up and playing good, so credit to them."

As things stand Sascha Zverev is the third-best player in the world and he is closer in points to the world No 1,000 Enzo Kohlmann de Freitas (5,144) than he is to Sinner (6,340).

And while no one doubts the talent of Zverev as multiple Slam finalist, it seems that his scar tissue runs deep and for those who thought 2025 could be the year, a number of those same people are now not sure if he will ever win one!

Next on the list is Novak Djokovic who is still on the hunt for Grand Slam title No 25 and after a great year that saw him reach the semi-finals in all four majors, he has shown he can still mix it with the best. But at the age of 38, with a schedule that will only continue to get lighter and no real interest in the rankings anymore, a challenge is unlikely.

The rest of the current top 10 is made up of Auger Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Alex De Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti, Ben Shelton and maybe the one player who could do something - Jack Draper.

A left arm injury brought his season to a close at the US Open during a year that has seen him win his first Masters title, reach the final of another and climb up to a career high of world No 4.

He beat Alcaraz in the semi-finals of Indian Wells for his second career win over the Spaniard and he's a win apiece with Sinner.

Draper returns to action at the UTS Grand Final which you can watch live on SportsNews Tennis, our first sighting of the Brit following his injury and with new coach Jamie Delgado, after confirming his split with long-time coach James Trotman who he called a 'special man' in a post on Instagram.

But with that all being said it would take a brave person to go outside of Alcaraz and Sinner for the major titles in 2026.

So with the ATP wrapped up for the winter, next time I will be looking back on the strength in the depth of the WTA tour, together with a round-up of some of the Brit action from 2025.

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