Staggering Jannik Sinner statistics highlight one area where he is ahead of Carlos Alcaraz
The battle for power at the top of men’s tennis has been a compelling duel between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz over the last couple of years and in one key area, the Italian is well ahead of his Spanish rival.
Sinner and Alcaraz have share the Grand Slam titles between them over the last two years, with this year’s split seeing the former win the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while his young competitor took home the French Open and US Open titles.
The chasing pack have not come close to halting the dominance of the ‘Big 2’ and they finished the year in fitting fashion, by playing out another thrilling battle to decide the ATP Finals title in Turin.
Now is the moment to analyse the season just gone and one eye-catching statistic suggests Sinner is a few steps ahead of Alcaraz.
Such has been the brilliance of the players at the top of the ATP Rankings that getting either of them into a tie-break has been tough for the rest of the men’s game, but when they do push them into what is always a pressurised situation at 6-6, Sinner is in a league of his own.
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The world No 2 won 17 and lost just three of the tie-breaks he was involved in this season, with that incredible win rate only marred by the three tie-breaks he lost against Alcaraz at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome and in their incredible French Open final in Paris.
That adds up to a remarkable 85 per-cent win rate in tie-breakers for Sinner, with the deflating disappointment his opponents felt as he won each of those playing a big role in the outcome of matches.
No other player in the men’s game managed to win a tie-break against Sinner over the last year and that record must fuel the Italian with confidence every time he gets into a shoot-out to decide a set.
By contrast, Alcaraz lost 10 and won 17 of his tie-breaks over the last year, proving he can be vulnerable when he is pushed by a rival and giving him a 62.96 win percentage.
Alcaraz’s success in tie-breaks against his rival in Rome and Paris means he may be the only player in the game who fancies his chances of winning a breaker against the nerveless Sinner.
The Spaniard also ending the myth that he may not be competitive against a player who has been unbeaten on indoor courts for the last year by playing out a tight ATP Finals match in Turin earlier this month.
A hamstring problem mid-way through the match affected Alcaraz’s movement and ultimately forced him to pull out of Spain’s team for the Davis Cup finals, but Alcaraz will head into 2026 encouraged that he pushed Sinner all the way on a surface that few have tested him on in the last 12 months.
Alcaraz will test Sinner once again when the new tennis year gets underway, but the rest of the men’s game are not getting any closer to a duo who have seperated themselves from the pack by some distance.
Best tie-break records over the last year.
1 Jannik Sinner – 17-3
2 Felix Auger-Aliassime 32-14
3 Frances Tiafoe 15-7
4 Learner Tien 21-12
5 Alexei Popyrin 14-8
6 Flavio Cobolli 19-11
7 Carlos Alcaraz 17-10
8 Reilly Opelka 28-17
9 Hamad Medjedovic 13-8
10 Luciano Darderi 14-9
