What sets Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner apart from other players, according to Andrey Rublev

The 2025 season on the ATP Tour has been dominated by two players and two players only -- Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The duo swept the four Grand Slam titles, the ATP Finals title, four of the nine Masters 1000 tournaments, and finished in the top-2 of the rankings at the end of the year.

Alcaraz won the French Open and the US Open, to end 2025 as the World No. 1 for the second time in his career. Sinner, meanwhile, won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the ATP Finals, to finish second-best behind the Spaniard.

One of the players who got their hopes dashed by the duo in 2025 is Andrey Rublev. The Russian No. 1 faced Sinner and Alcaraz thrice, losing all three. That experience, however, has given Rublev some insight into what set them apart from every other player on the tour.

Speaking to press during his time at UTS London this week, Rublev pontificated that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner play without any 'fear' in their hearts and do not think about their opponents at all, just focussing on their own tennis. The Russian felt this was why they were a league apart from the rest of the ATP, giving them a mental edge.

“Carlos and Jannik are clearly head and shoulders above all the other players, that’s all. For me, they simply play tennis. They don’t play with fear in their hearts or hoping their opponent will miss. They just play tennis, do the same thing, and the score doesn’t matter. That’s what sets them apart from the others, in my opinion,” Rublev said.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner both missed the Davis Cup at the end of the season. Interestingly, their respective countries still managed to reach the final, with Italy prevailing 2-0 to win their third successive title at the tournament.

How did Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner fare against each other in 2025?

Nitto ATP Finals 2025 - Day 8 - Source: Getty

In the 2025 tennis season, there were six meetings between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner -- four wins for Alcaraz and two for Sinner. Sinner's wins came in the final of the ATP Finals and the final of the Wimbledon Championships.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, prevailed in the final of the Italian Open, the final of the French Open, the final of the Cincinnati Masters and the final of the US Open. They also met in the final of the Six Kings Slam exhibition, which went Sinner's way.