The 2022 US Open will crown its men’s singles champion Sunday in a match that has everything on the line. The winner of Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud will claim his first Grand Slam singles title—the third year in a row the US Open will feature a first-time major champ—and rise to No. 1 in the world. The runner-up will need to wait until 2023 for another shot at Grand Slam glory.
Let’s take a closer look at these two men as they get set to contest the biggest match of their young careers:
Carlos Alcaraz
Seed/Rank: 3/4
Best Previous US Open Result: QF (2021)
Best Previous Grand Slam Result: QF (2021 US Open, 2022 French Open)
Sets Played/Sets Lost: 24/6
Time Spent on Court: 20 hours, 20 minutes
Outlook: Alcaraz has played three consecutive marathons to reach this stage, each tense and each extending close to or past four hours. That would seemingly put him at a disadvantage in the final, except we all thought the same in the semifinals—and even the quarterfinals for that matter. But as he did in rebounding from down a break in the fifth set to 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic in the fourth round, he held his nerve to defeat Jannik Sinner in a quarterfinal classic that went 5 hours, 15 minutes and ended at 2:50 a.m. And then he backed up that victory two days later by outlasting home-country favorite Frances Tiafoe in the semis. With those three victories, Alcaraz is now 8-1 in five-set matches in his career, an impressive record for any player and particularly a 19-year-old, even one as precocious as the Spaniard. There is something that feels undeniable about his advance this fortnight, but Ruud will be a very different test, with the necessary quickness and a ground game to hang with this burgeoning superstar.
Casper Ruud
Seed/Rank: 5/7
Previous Best US Open Result: 3R (2020)
Best Grand Slam Result: F (2022 French Open)
Sets Played/Sets Lost: 23/5
Time Spent on Court: 18 hours, 46 minutes
Outlook: Ruud entered the US Open largely under the radar, blessed not with titanic strokes or a take-notice serve but with an unperturbable ground game and elite court coverage that have propelled his rise up the rankings. Befitting that style, the 23-year-old has enjoyed a steady if not an easy run through the draw. Just two of his six matches—a first-round win over Kyle Edmund and a quarterfinal victory over Matteo Berrettini—were completed in straight sets, yet only in his third-round victory over Tommy Paul was Ruud in real trouble, and he pulled that one out 6-0 in the fifth set. With those wins, the Norwegian joins Rafael Nadal as the only men to advance to two Grand Slam finals in 2022. Still, as impressive as he’s been in 2022—three titles, plus a final in Miami and semifinals in Rome and Cincinnati—much of his season’s success will hinge on whether he can solve Alcaraz on Sunday. The two men have met twice previously, with Alcaraz winning both in straight sets, including a 7-5, 6-4 victory in the Miami final earlier this year.
