Carlos Alcaraz defeated his great rival Jannik Sinner in a light-hearted, sold-out exhibition match in South Korea on Saturday as both players fine-tuned preparations for the Australian Open.
Eight days before the Melbourne Grand Slam and in their first appearances of the year, the Spanish world number one prevailed 7–5, 7–6 (8/6) in front of an enthusiastic 12,000-strong crowd in Incheon.
Neither player will compete again before the Australian Open, where Italy’s world number two Sinner arrives as the defending two-time champion.
Organisers in South Korea did not disclose appearance fees, but Italian media reports suggest both players could have earned more than $2 million for the one-hour, 47-minute exhibition.
The match was not short on entertainment. Smiling throughout, the pair delighted the crowd with between-the-legs trick shots and responded to fan chants with playful heart gestures.
“Jannik, we finished the season playing together and we started this season playing together,” Alcaraz said on court afterwards. “So hopefully this season will be as good as last year. You deserve the best.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have dominated men’s tennis over the past two seasons, sharing all four Grand Slam titles between them in 2024 and 2025.
“It was a close match, with a little bit of tension as well,” Sinner said.
“We were just happy to be here for the first time and experience something new. It made us feel at home, and we felt that on the court.”
Fierce rivals on court but close friends off it, Alcaraz currently leads their head-to-head rivalry 10–6.
Both players will enter the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on January 18, as overwhelming favourites when the competitive action resumes.
At 22, Alcaraz is two years younger than Sinner and has yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals in Melbourne, making the Australian Open the only Grand Slam title missing from his collection.
