Carlos Alcaraz’s fresh buzzcut might have stolen headlines at the start of the early days of the 2025 US Open, but one individual who does not care about the dramatic new appearance is his opponent, Jannik Sinner.
“No, [I wouldn’t want one myself], but honestly I think everything suits him,” said Sinner on Tuesday after he raced past Vit Kopriva 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 in his New York opener. “It grows very fast, so it’s going to be all aligned in two days. But it suits him. Even like this, it looks good. Even when he has longer hair, it suits.”
Whereas fans, analysts, and fellow player Frances Tiafoe reacted in a mixed and sometimes amusing manner to Alcaraz’s haircut, with Tiafoe referring to it in a joking manner as “terrible,” World No. 1 Jannik Sinner took a more measured view. Both Sinner and Alcaraz have transitioned easily into the second round, preserving the possibility of yet another Grand Slam clash between the pair.
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A third straight grand slam final between them is a possibility at Flushing Meadows, rekindling a rivalry that initially burst into flame at the 2022 US Open. In that one, Alcaraz famously saved match points to beat Sinner in a five-set quarterfinal marathon, a match that forever established them as future greats of the sport. Alcaraz leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head matchup 9–5.
“Three years back I felt like we were getting to know each other obviously and in different ways, but we also didn’t know exactly what to expect in the future,” said Sinner, when asked how he now reflects on that 2022 encounter. “It’s the same now… I feel like when we were very, very young, it was a kind of match where you just go on court and just hit. Now I feel like we have to prepare tactically, we have to prepare it also emotionally and mentally.
“It’s everything different, because in the past three years, we faced each other many times, and every match we play it’s different, if we watch the tactical side. So we make adjustments. But for sure it was an important match to see also that our peak is very interesting to see also from the outside. It was for sure one of the key matches, even if we were very young.”
Though all the talk was about their possible encounter, Sinner is keeping his feet on the ground. Having beaten Vit Kopriva in his opener, the Italian told how his strategy in coping with the pressure of a Grand Slam has improved with experience. Now, he must navigate a tricky second-round encounter against Alexei Popyrin the big-serve Australian who beat Novak Djokovic in the third round of last year’s tournament and has a victory over Sinner from their 2021 Madrid meeting.
