Endurance and edges in 2025’s defining ATP matches

With the 2025 ATP Tour wrapping up, ATPTour.com kicks off our annual ‘Best Of’ series to revisit the season’s sharpest rivalries, gripping matches, bold comebacks, and bold upsets. These five standout encounters, excluding Grand Slams, capture the raw push and pull of elite play, from baseline grinds to chaotic scrambles. Fans get to decide the ATP Match of the Year through voting, picking the one that best echoed the tour’s relentless drive.

Blunting hype with gritty resolve

In March’s Miami Open presented by Itau, Alex de Minaur met a surging Joao Fonseca in the third round, the teenage Brazilian drawing hundreds of flag-waving supporters after his 2024 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF win. Fonseca’s explosive forehands inside-out pressured early, taking the first set 7-5 amid the carnival roar, but de Minaur reset with speedy crosscourt returns and low-bouncing underspin to extend rallies and force errors. Down a break in the decider, the Australian reeled off five straight games for a 7-5, 6-3 turnaround, his veteran focus turning crowd energy into fuel for disruption.

De Minaur‘s speed neutralized Fonseca‘s transitions, mixing deep serves to the body with slice wide to pull the young player off balance on the hard courts. This clash, in a Masters 1000 where pace favored aggression, showed how composure can stall a hype train, boosting de Minaur’s consistent run through the season’s hard-court swing.

Watch highlights of De Minaur and Fonseca’s Miami matchup.

Clay nerves forge new rivalries

April’s Monte-Carlo Masters quarterfinals brought Carlos Alcaraz against Arthur Fils on the gripping clay, their first ATP Head2Head sparking high-octane baseline trades with heavy topspin loops and flat backhands slicing through. Fils grabbed the opener 6-4, his inside-in forehands testing Alcaraz’s slides, but the Spaniard held firm at 5-5, 0/40 in the second, using kick serves to the body and drop shots to save three breaks and level at 7-5. From 1-3 down in the third, Alcaraz ramped up net rushes and down-the-line passes for a 6-3 close in two hours and 23 minutes, his poise carrying him to the title.

The clay’s high bounce amplified Alcaraz’s one–two patterns—deep second serve into crosscourt forehand—exploiting Fils’s lapses under pressure, while the Frenchman’s speed kept rallies alive with angled returns. This matchup previewed a rivalry where endurance on slower surfaces could define future edges, sharpening both for grass transitions ahead.

Watch highlights of Alcaraz outlasting Fils in Monte-Carlo.

Shifting to summer hard courts, Corentin Moutet pulled off a stunner in the Mubadala Citi DC Open quarterfinals against Daniil Medvedev, entering as a lucky loser amid blistering heat and looming cramps. Medvedev dominated the first set 6-1 with flat crosscourt lasers, but Moutet countered with crafty underspin lobs and drop shots to draw him in, flipping to 6-4 in the second. Lightning paused play at 4-5 in the decider before Medvedev’s serve; upon return, three double faults opened the door, and Moutet scrambled through a net cord and towering lob for the 6-4 upset despite his body’s revolt.

The interruption gave the left-hander a mental reset, his angled passing shots inside-out pulling the Russian wide on the medium-paced surface, turning chaos into his maiden ATP 500 semifinal path. Medvedev’s return depth faltered against such variety, a tactical lesson that rippled into his indoor adjustments later.

Watch highlights of Moutet’s wild Washington upset.

Cramp battles seal late-season titles

October’s Erste Bank Open final saw Jannik Sinner face Alexander Zverev on indoor hard courts, the Italian’s straight-set dominance—48 of 58 tour-level wins that year—challenged in a heavyweight grind. Zverev broke early for 6-3, as Sinner moved gingerly, but he surged back with flat serves and down-the-line backhands for a 6-3 second set. Cramp hit his left hamstring mid-third, prompting pickle juice sips and aggressive one–two punches to shorten points, clinching 7-5 in two hours and 29 minutes for his 21st straight indoor win, later extended to 31 via titles at the Paris Masters and Nitto ATP Finals.

Sinner’s endgame push, beating Zverev again at those events for a 6-4 Head2Head lead, masked pain with precise inside-in forehands, reinforcing his year-end command amid the tour’s fall indoor surge. This resilience amid physical strain set the tone for his supremacy heading into the off-season.

Watch highlights of Sinner and Zverev’s Vienna title clash.

The regular season closed in Athens at the Vanda Pharmaceuticals Hellenic Championship final, where Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Musetti traded blows for three hours on outdoor hard courts in a third set packed with 13 break points and five breaks. Musetti’s slice backhands and curling forehands erased Djokovic’s 3-1 and 5-3 leads, but the Serb’s experience shone through extended deuces and crosscourt marathons, serving to love for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win. This edged him past Roger Federer for 72 Open Era hard-court titles, a physical and mental push that defined late-year grit.

Djokovic’s ability to stay locked in under fatigue, varying serve slices wide with body jabs to hold firm, offered a masterclass in legacy-building amid squeezed schedules. As the tour resets, these matches point to evolving dynamics where mental and tactical layers will shape 2026’s early clashes.

Watch highlights of Djokovic and Musetti’s three-hour marathon.

For more on 2025’s top moments, check the Best Grand Slam matches, the biggest ATP Tour upsets, and the biggest Grand Slam upsets.