Yesterday, Paris raised the curtain on its second-biggest tennis spectacle of the year: the Rolex Paris Masters. Far from the red-clay glamour of Roland Garros, this Masters 1000 serves as the ATP Tour’s final rendez-vous — a last chance for players to chase ranking points and prize money before a well-earned break from the Masters 1000 tournaments. Staged at La Défense Arena, on the north-western edge of the city, it offers fans one final glimpse of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Taylor Fritz before the circuit resets in January.
Much of the tennis world — media included — has fallen unusually quiet in recent weeks. After the Shanghai Open’s ‘cousins’ tale’, crowned by newcomer Valentin Vacherot, players and pundits alike have been catching their breath.
A notably silent Carlos Alcaraz has spent time recovering from the left-ankle injury he picked up in Tokyo — one that ruled him out of Shanghai — though he couldn’t resist Netflix’s latest experiment in showbiz tennis: the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom’s made-for-TV exhibition lured the sport’s biggest names — Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic, Fritz, Zverev and Tsitsipas — with a $1.5 million appearance fee each and a $6 million purse for the winner. It was Jannik Sinner who pocketed the lot, dispatching Alcaraz 6-2, 6-4 in a match that felt more theatre than test. Little about it was fierce or fateful; entertainment, not endurance, was the brief. Since then, the Spaniard has reset — eyes firmly set on finishing his season with the last Masters 1000 title of the year.
Fresh from pocketing his Saudi cheque, Jannik Sinner doubled down and headed to the Vienna Open. There, he faced the usual Grand Slam suspects — Cobolli, Bublik, de Minaur and Zverev — and dispatched them all once again to lift the title before a delighted Austrian crowd. Still, signs of fatigue from a long season were visible early in the final: a brief hamstring cramp raised alarms, even if it didn’t derail his form. Vienna also marked a personal milestone — Sinner surpassed $50 million in career prize money and entered the home stretch of 2025 with momentum firmly on his side.
But season endings have a way of ushering in new names. In Basel, the indoor Swiss classic, 19-year-old Brazilian João Fonseca (World No. 28) stunned Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-4 to claim his second career title — and the biggest of his young career. His fearless run lit up a quiet fortnight on tour and hinted that 2026 may be poised with more from him.
Alcaraz’s season defies easy description. Only he knows the effort it took to reclaim the World No. 1 spot after that gruelling US Open triumph over Jannik Sinner. 2025 has tilted decisively his way, and the Spaniard now aims to close it in style. His Paris Masters campaign begins against Britain’s Cameron Norrie — a match he’s widely expected to navigate — before a possible run through Jiri Lehečka (No. 14), Casper Ruud (No. 8), Félix Auger-Aliassime (No. 9), Taylor Fritz (No. 4) or Alex de Minaur (No. 6). And, if the draw holds, perhaps one final showdown with Sinner to cap the year. There’s added incentive, too: should Alcaraz reach the semifinals, Sinner’s chances of overtaking him as world No. 1 before 2026 will vanish.
Memories still linger from their last Paris encounter — a five-and-a-half-hour epic in which Alcaraz’s comeback left his Italian rival drained both physically and mentally. That night will surely echo in Sinner’s mind. Yet the conditions at La Défense Arena — hard court and indoors— tilt ever so slightly in his favour this time.
But talk only goes so far — what we want now is action. Alcaraz takes on Cameron Norrie this evening, while Jannik Sinner opens his campaign against Zizou Bergs on Tuesday night. The Paris Masters final is set for Sunday, 2 November — one last stage for brilliance before the curtain falls on 2025.
