ROME — Grand Slam titles weren’t the only thing Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz took turns winning this year.
The top two tennis players also go back and forth in the No. 1 ranking.
Sinner officially returned to the top spot of the ATP Rankings on Monday following his victory at the Paris Masters, replacing Alcaraz, who had held that honor for almost two months.
However, due to ranking calculations and rules, Alcaraz will be back in first place next Monday.
The difference between the Italian and the Spaniard is currently very slim, with Sinner leading with 11,500 points and Alcaraz with 11,250 points, so who will finish this year in first place will depend on their performance at the next ATP Finals in Turin.
Points Reduction Although neither Sinner nor Alcaraz are playing this week (unless the ATP Finals start on Sunday), the reason the rankings will change again next Monday is because that is the day when the points for each player’s performance in last year’s finals will be reduced.
Next week, Sinner will lose the 1,500 points they earned by winning last year’s final, while Alcaraz will only lose the 200 points they earned by failing to advance through the group stage.
Next Monday’s ranking will be Alcaraz 11,050 and Sinner 10,000.
And with third place Alexander Zverev (5,560 points), fourth place Taylor Fritz (4,735 points) and fifth place Novak Djokovic (4,580 points) far behind, there is no chance of anyone else breaking into the top two immediately.
Sinner and Alcaraz won all four of this year’s majors, amassing huge point totals, among other tournaments.
Sinner won the Australian Open. Alcaraz then defeated Sinner in the French Open final. Sinner got his revenge by defeating Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. Alcaraz then defeated Sinner again to win the US Open trophy.
ATP Finals seeding To further complicate matters, Alcaraz is not ranked No. 1 entering the tournament, but will be seeded No. 1 in the finals.
That’s because the final uses a different ranking system called “Race to Turin”, where only points accumulated in the calendar year are taken into account.
Alcaraz leads Sinner in the race standings by more than 1,000 points.
Sinner lost his standing in both systems during a three-month doping suspension near the beginning of this year.
Year-end scenario Sinner needs to win the ATP Finals and hopes Alcaraz doesn’t make it to the finals to secure his second consecutive year-end No. 1 ranking.
Alcaraz needs to win three finals matches to finish 2025 at the top of the rankings for the second time in his career. Alcaraz achieved the feat in 2022 at the age of 19, making him the youngest player to finish first in a year.
As for the WTA rankings, Aryna Sabalenka has already secured the number one spot at the end of the year.
After winning titles in Vienna and Paris, Sinner enters Turin looking for a 10-game winning streak and will be playing on his favorite indoor hard court, where he can expect a big cheer from his home fans in the final.
Alcaraz headed to Italy after losing to Cameron Norrie in the Paris opener, but often struggled when playing indoors.
Auger-Aliassime, Musetti still trying to qualify Other players currently qualifying for the top eight finals in the race are Zverev, Djokovic, Ben Shelton, Fritz and Alex de Minaur.
Paris finalists Félix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti are still battling for the final spot, with Musetti needing to win this week’s tournament in Athens to move ahead of the Canadian and qualify for the elite competition on home soil.
However, it is unclear whether Djokovic intends to play in the finals at a time when he has said he has focused almost exclusively on majors in his career.
Djokovic, who withdrew from last year’s final, will play in Athens this week.
If Djokovic withdraws, both Auger-Aliassime and Musetti will advance to the final.
The draw for the final tournament is scheduled for Thursday, but it may still be unclear who the final qualifiers will be.