ATP Tour

Sinner on Alcaraz's haircut: 'Everything suits him'

Carlos Alcaraz’s new hairstyle may have caused a stir in the opening days of the 2025 US Open, but the Spaniard’s ‘buzzcut’ has a high-profile defender in his great rival Jannik Sinner.

Fans, commentators and Frances Tiafoe were among those to weigh in with their thoughts on Alcaraz’s hair on Monday in New York. American star Tiafoe may have lightheartedly described it as ‘terrible’, but No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Sinner was more measured in his assessment.

“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.”

With Sinner and Alcaraz both safely into the second round, the potential for a third consecutive major final between the pair remains alive at Flushing Meadows. Their only previous clash at the US Open came in 2022, when Alcaraz saved match points to prevail in a five-set quarter-final thriller that dramatically escalated the hype around their rivalry.

“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.”

The road to a repeat begins 💪

Defending champion @janniksin moves past Kopriva in the first round of the #USOpen @usopen pic.twitter.com/WQQeaMUQwe

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 26, 2025

Alcaraz currently holds a 9-5 Lexus ATP Head2Head series lead against Sinner, but the Italian will not be focusing on reducing that deficit anytime soon. He will need to win five more matches before any potential matchup with Alcaraz, and after defeating Kopriva he also delivered some insight into how the way he manages a Grand Slam fortnight has developed.

“Back in the days, I used to practise two hours on days off, in the court,” said Sinner, who is a four-time major champion. “Now I understand that, if you feel the ball and everything, it's better to rest, to have as much energy as possible then for the next day for the match so you're not drained.

"All these kinds of things, whether you have physio in the hotel or here, how much time you want to spend here on site or you want to leave as soon as possible. I did learn that I just come to work and then get out of here, because it can be very long at times. So managing everything together, and I think I'm learning. I'm not perfect, but I'm learning."

Sinner’s second-round opponent in New York will be Alexei Popyrin. The powerful Aussie, who upset Novak Djokovic in the third round a year ago, won his only previous tour-level meeting with Sinner on the Madrid clay in 2021.

{{player.PlayerFirstName}} {{player.PlayerLastName}}

{{player.PlayerCountryCode}}

{{player.PlayerLastName}}

{{player.PartnerLastName}}

{{player.Record}}

Vs
wins

{{opponent.Record}}

Show H2H Detail

{{opponent.PlayerFirstName}} {{opponent.PlayerLastName}}

{{opponent.PlayerCountryCode}}

{{ opponent.PlayerLastName }}

{{opponent.PartnerLastName}}

• {{player.Ranking}} Rank {{opponent.Ranking}}
• {{player.Age ? player.Age : '-'}} Age {{opponent.Age ? opponent.Age : '-'}}