With Sinner Ill, Alcaraz Takes Cincy Crown

Title Defense Falls Short in Abbreviated Final

By Richard Osborn

The Jannik Sinner vs. Carlos Alcaraz rivalry, better known in the tennisphere as ‘Sincaraz’, has taken on a life of its own these last few years. And for good reason.

With Pete and Andre long retired, the Sampragassian Wars are in the history books. The Big Three is down to The Big One and, sadly, Fedal is no more. As we’ve now seen in back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, these two wonders have separated themselves from the pack and are collectively taking the sport to new, undreamt-of heights.

But the 14th edition of this otherworldly matchup, only the third time the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the world were meeting in the Cincinnati Open men’s final, would last just 23 minutes, the top-ranked and top-seeded Sinner unable to play on due to illness. Only five games into the match, the Italian informed chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani that he could not continue. The finally tally, 5-0, ret., gives Alcaraz the eighth ATP Masters 1000 title of his career.   

As the defending champion, Sinner was bidding to become the first player to go back-to-back here since Roger Federer in 2014-15. It marks only the second time in the Open Era that a player has retired in the Cincinnati men’s final. Novak Djokovic was forced to retire in 2013 due to a shoulder injury trailing, 6-4, 3-0.

The title, Alcaraz’s first in Cincinnati, is redemption for the one that got away two years ago. In 2023, he squandered a championship point against Djokovic, dropping a   three-hour, 49-minute, 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4) epic that still stands as the longest best-of-three-sets final in ATP Tour history. He is the third Spaniard to claim the men’s title after Carlos Moya (2002) and Rafael Nadal (2013).

Sinner, only two days removed from his 24th birthday, looked out of sorts from the start. He was broken at love to open the match, and never recovered.

“After the third game, I just noticed that he wasn’t feeling good at all,” said Alcaraz, 22. “I know him. I’ve been battling against him for two years, having great matches, great battles. I know his style, his game. I noticed that he was being more aggressive than he used to be. He was missing more often. I thought that it was pretty weird from him. I noticed that the body language wasn’t the best for him.”

“I’m super, super sorry to disappoint you,” Sinner told the crowd during the trophy presentation. “From yesterday, I didn’t feel great. I thought that I would improve during the night, but it came up worse. I tried to come out, tried to make it at least a small match, but I couldn’t handle more. I’m very, very sorry for all of you.”

“It’s not the way that I want to win matches, win trophies,” said Alcaraz, who upped his head-to-head advantage against Sinner to 9-5. “I can’t say anything you don’t know already, but as I’ve said many, many times, you are truly a champion. I’m pretty sure from this situation that you are going to come back better, even stronger. You always do. That’s what true champions do.”  

The last two years, the Cincinnati champion has gone on to win the US Open the following month. Will Alcaraz continue that tradition? We won’t have to wait long to find out. He’s catching a flight for New York tonight. But before he leaves Cincinnati, he says he’ll squeeze in some time for a celebratory meal. His order: “A really good burger.”