ATP Rankings Year-End Update: Carlos Alcaraz scoops World No.1 spot despite Jannik Sinner Turin triumph

Don't be sad it's over as the ATP season has now concluded (for around a month until it all kicks off again) but as a result, the year end ATP Rankings are set with Carlos Alcaraz finishing as the World No.1 despite the fact that he didn't win the ATP Finals.

Jannik Sinner was bestowed that honour for another year but unlike the end of 2024, the Italian wasn't the Year End No.1 with Carlos Alcaraz sealing that honour way before the final after a flawless group stage made it impossible for Sinner to catch him in the end.

With three wins from three in his group stage matches, the Spaniard ensured that Sinner would not be able to overtake him even if he went on to win the title at the Inalpi Arena. He did defend his title and all this does is cut the gap as a result form next season. He beat Alcaraz 7-6, 7-5 to stay within touching distance going into next year.

Alcaraz finishes the season on 12,050 points while Sinner is only 550 points behind albeit the slight sting in the tail is that the Italian again will have to defend the Australian Open in January. Alcaraz will be able to extend his lead if he gets past the Quarter-Finals currently as that was his end point in 2025 while an early exit for Sinner would mean an Alcaraz ascendancy for some time with the Middle East and Indian Wells and Miami being the next real chance for any changes.

So it is very much look out at the ATP Rankings come the Australian Open for that big battle. Alcaraz is assured of cracking the 50 week mark and is currently on 46th so will go into the new year as World No.1. But the main solace too for either is they can duke it out knowing full well that they have no competition.

This with the alarming facts that Alexander Zverev is a massive 6,340 points behind and is as close to World No.1000 as he is to the top two which is staggering given that he started the year as a potential shoe-in to snare that top spot for the first time given Sinner's drugs ban.

He had a super poor golden swing when he thought it was there for the taking and the rest is somewhat history as Sinner continued atop the rankings despite having close to five months off due to his drugs ban and Alcaraz took it by winning the US Open in the autumn. Novak Djokovic who barely competes apart from majors and the odd event such as Athens recently and a quota of ATP 1000 events also shows an issue with the rankings in that he is still fourth place despite the fact that he continues to cut down his schedule.

While it can be marvelled at, it shows a real change in the top level of tennis with no-one particularly tagging on to the dominance of the top two and the rest are very much the chasing pack. Felix Auger-Aliassime though negativity aside was a big winner from the ATP Finals as he earned 400 points by winning two group games and lost in the Quarter-Finals.

After an arduous time even getting to Turin, he was rewarded and now sits in a new career high of World No.5. Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minuar remain sixth and seventh despite the latter reaching the semi-finals. While Ben Shelton not winning any matches in Turin did more harm than good as he shoots down four spots.

Shelton started as American No.1 prior to Turin but Fritz adding 200 points means he is very much the second top player from the US. The rest of the top 20 is unchanged after the ATP Finals.

Jack Draper finishes 10th after his injury sojourn and after being top five for the middle part of the season. Alexander Bublik sits on the cusp of the top 10 though which will be a major event when it happens. The Kazakh has shown what can be done when the game is taken to the big names and he has won four titles this year and has been a real success story.

Those further down who will need big 2026's are Daniil Medvedev in 13th, Andrey Rublev in 16th, Tommy Paul in 20th and Stefanos Tsitsipas in 35th. All previous high fliers in the top 10 and mostly those who qualified for Turin in the past, the narrative has shifted and if they're not careful, it will be tennis exile.