Jannik Sinner entered the 2025 US Open as the tournament's defending champion and the world No. 1. After a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday's final, the Italian leaves New York stripped of both titles.
Sinner discussed a few changes he hopes to make in his game as he learns from this loss, which dropped him to 5-10 all-time against his great rival. But that's not the only change he focused on.
"Something new is now I'm not No. 1 anymore, so it also changes a little bit that you chase," he told the press. "It's different."
The Italian also touched on struggles with his serve, both throughout the tournament and in the final. He was able to overcome those issues all fortnight, dropping just two sets en route to the final. But Alcaraz was too good, earning a split of this season's Grand Slam titles and a measure of revenge after Sinner's Wimbledon triumph.
"He has improved. I felt like he was a bit cleaner today," Sinner said of the Spaniard. "The things that I did well in London, he did better today.
"I felt like he was doing everything slightly better today, especially serving, both sides, both swings very clean... I give lots of credit to him, because he handled the situation better than I did. Yeah, he raised his level when he had to."
While Sinner spoke glowingly of Alcaraz, he refused to be too down on his own game.
"I'm a very, very solid baseliner. I'm a very strong hitter. I'm a good player, you know," he said with a laugh.
"Sometimes adding just something—and I think that's going to make a difference from my personal point of view, that I can say that I'm going to become a better tennis player. I'm going to change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but you know, they can make big differences."
The tale of the tape on Sinner and Alcaraz had been that Sinner has a higher floor, rarely dropping his level far below his best. Alcaraz, for all his variety in his game, was also prone to a little too much variety in his level.
While Sinner playing his 'A' game—or at least a solid 'B,' as he was closer to on Sunday—has proven predictable, the Italian now wants to add some unpredictability to his tennis.
"I was very predictable today, you know, on court—in the way of he did many things, he changed up the game," Sinner said. "That's also his style of how he plays. Now it's going to be on me if I want to make changes or not, you know? That's definitely [something] we are going to work on."
Able to ease through the draw without diverting from Plan A, Sinner needed Plan B in the final.
"One thing is when the scoreline, you know, matches before are comfortable, but you always do the same things," he explained.
"For example, during this tournament, I didn't make one serve-volley, didn't use a lot of drop shots, and then you arrive to a point where you play against Carlos where you have to go out of the comfort zone.
"So I'm going to aim to, you know, maybe even losing some matches from now on, but trying to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player, because I think that's what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player."
The willingness to take one step back to take two forwards could help Sinner win three Grand Slam titles next season. For 2025, he's content to split the major spoils with his rival.
"Overall, the season result-wise, amazing," he said. "Four Grand Slam finals of the year, two Grand Slams won, two times lost in the final—it's incredible results, no?
"Very happy, and now we try to finish the year as strong as we can."
