Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner put on a Beijing show and all of 2024's best ATP matches

The 2024 tennis season was filled with noteworthy stories, breakthrough moments, and countless trophy lifts. But what were the best matches of the year that was?

We rolled the tape, and this week, TENNIS.com counted down some of the best WTA matches of the past year (after counting down our WTA picks last week). Our countdown concludes with our overall Top 5 matches of the year. These matches, each for their own reasons, thrilled and entertained, and played an integral part in the year's overall narrative.

5. Taylor Fritz def. Alexander Zverev, ATP Finals SF

The rivalry between Taylor Fritz and Alexander Zverev transcended surface, tournament and round in 2024, but one thing was consistent: The American winning the majority of the time. But despite a five-setter at Wimbledon, that was dramatic on and off the court, and another four-setter at the US Open, the best match of the bunch came at the year's final tournament.

The 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3) win for Fritz helped him become the first American since 2006 to reach the singles final at the ATP's year-end championships.

The pair’s battle in Turin was a serving display, with only two breaks in the entire match—one in the first set for Fritz, and likewise one in the second set for Zverev.

Both players faced break points in the third set, Fritz saving three at 2-all, then Zverev three at 3-4, then Fritz another two at 5-all. But in the end it all came down to one tiebreak, and it was the American who struck first, grabbing a mini-break for a 2-0 lead and never letting go of that lead, eventually unleashing one last inside-out forehand winner on his first match point to seal the victory after two hours and 21 minutes on court.

How the win was sealed—a forehand winner, one of 30 finishers for Fritz in three sets—and the willingness to go for it, was an example of the confidence Fritz built on big stages in 2024. It something that, although he finished as runner-up to Jannik Sinner, helped him finish at a career-high world No. 4 in the ATP rankings.

"I trust my game and I trust my level," Fritz said post-match. "I don't feel anywhere near as uncomfortable in these situations anymore because I've been putting myself in these situations against the top guys at big events a lot lately... I'm really confident in my game."

4. Carlos Alcaraz def. Alexander Zverev, Roland Garros F

Winning Roland Garros, and following in the footsteps of all the Spanish greats that came before him was a "dream ... since I was five, six years old," Carlos Alcaraz said this spring.

But to achieve it, and lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires over his head for the first time, he forced Alexander Zverev into a living nightmare.

For the second time in his career, after losing a two-set lead to Dominic Thiem in the final of the 2020 US Open, Zverev couldn't hold onto a lead in a Grand Slam final. This time, from two-sets-to-one ahead (after stealing the third from 5-3 down), Zverev watched as Alcaraz captured 12 of the final 15 games to win 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, and take home his third career Grand Slam singles title.

Read more: Alcaraz becomes the clay-court champion that he—and we—always knew was possible

Alcaraz overcame not just Zverev, who came into the fortnight having won Rome while Alcaraz was sidelined for three weeks with an arm injury, but also his own jitters. When Zverev was in the midst of his third-set comeback, Alcaraz ranted to chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein that the terre battue was playing more like a hard court. Later, with Alcaraz serving at 2-1, 15-40 in the fifth set, his second serve was called out, seemingly double-faulting to give Zverev the break back. But Lichtenstein overturned the call on a mark inspection.

This time, Alcaraz steadied his fraying nerves. Given the second chance, he went on to hold serve and stayed in front to the end.

“I know that when I’m playing a fifth set you have to give everything and you have to give your heart,” he said afterwards. “In those moments, it’s where the top players give their best tennis.”

3. Jannik Sinner def. Daniil Medvedev, Australian Open F

Jannik Sinner's coronation in Melbourne Park featured a different sort of comeback, against a different opponent, but gave similar heartbreak to the beaten finalist. This time, the victim was Daniil Medvedev, who dropped to 0-3 in his career in Australian Open finals, and let a two-set lead slip in the showpiece match for the second time in three years.

Sinner became the first Italian to capture an Australian Open title thanks to a 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 comeback that lasted three hours and 44 minutes. The first man from his nation to win a major since Adriano Panatta at 1976 Roland Garros and the youngest man to triumph in Melbourne since a 20-year-old Novak Djokovic lifted his first Grand Slam crown in 2008, Sinner's Australian Open victory was, now with the benefit of hinsight, a sign of greater heights to come.

But it was a microcosm of the marked improvements the Italian has made in the last year-plus to his game, which he showed throughout the year. To complete his comeback, Sinner turned defense into attack facing a more-aggressive than usual Medvedev, who was already running on fumes after three previous five-setters in six rounds. It was an unsustainable level, ultimately, for the Russian, and the Italian hung around, weathered the storm, cut down on his errors, and took his chances when they (finally) presented themselves.

“I had this feeling that he might come out a little bit more aggressive,” Sinner said. “Not this aggressive. He played really, really well for the first two or two and a half sets.”

“I tried just to play even level, trying to take a couple of chances in the third set. When you win one very important game, the match can change ... and that was the case today.”

Medvedev approached the net twice as many times as Sinner (45 to 21) and hit nearly as many winners (50 to 44), but ultimately could not hold off what was Sinner's second career comeback from two sets down.

"I like to dance in the pressure storm," Sinner now-famously said of his outwardly calm approach to the most tense moments. "I like it, because that's where most of the time I bring out my best tennis."

2. Carlos Alcaraz def. Jannik Sinner, Beijing F

Letting not one, but nearly a half-dozen, leads slip in the final of a Masters 1000 event would be enough to sink even a dogged competitor like Alcaraz ... especially when facing the world No. 1 on the other side.

But, on his way to winning a thrilling , Alcaraz, in his words, never lost hope.

In what was the third, and final, meeting between the two young rivals in 2024, Alcaraz would've had reason to hang his head as the match wore on. He led 5-2 in the first set, and served for it at 5-3. Later, he had a set point in the 12th game, and also led 6-4 in the tiebreak, only to lose four straight points. In the decider, he was up 4-2, but Sinner again pulled even.

In the deciding tiebreak, Alcaraz trailed 3-0, knowing, he said, that "every tiebreak Jannik plays is almost to his side."

"I didn’t lose hope, but I thought, ‘OK, I have to give everything that I have just to try to give myself the opportunity to be close.’”

The comeback built slowly, then furiously. Alcaraz started with a backhand volley winner for 1-3, then won what may have been the point of the match. A cross-court forehand led to a half-volley drop shot, which led to a reflex forehand winner, which led to the crowd standing and roaring, which led to Alcaraz putting his finger to his ear and asking for more.

“I played great points just to make three-all and after that I just thought to go for it,” Alcaraz said later. “If I lost it, at least I went for it. So that’s all I thought in that moment.”

Another forehand winner, Alcaraz's 55th in all in the match, sealed the title for him. The high-quality tussle, which lasted three hours and 20 minutes in all, saw Alcaraz finish with 55 winners to 52 unforced errors and Sinner 30 to 31.

1. Novak Djokovic def. Carlos Alcaraz, Olympics F

There was nothing that Novak Djokovic wanted more than Olmypic gold, having falling agonizingly short in each of his prior four Olympic appearances. That's why his victory over Carlos Alcaraz in Paris, his only title of 2024, is our pick for match of the year. Read more, from Steve Tignor:

Let’s start with the stakes. In this century, the Olympic tennis event has been steadily elevated in stature, to the point where it’s now on par with the Grand Slams. In 2024, Djokovic elevated it one step higher, making a gold medal his primary objective for the season.

It was the one hole in his mountainous résumé, the one competition where nothing had ever broken his way.

In Beijing in 2008, Djokovic lost a semifinal to Rafael Nadal by wildly shanking an easy overhead at match point. In Rio in 2016, he walked off in tears after losing to Juan Martin del Potro in the opening round. In Tokyo in 2021, he chucked his racquet into the stands after a shock defeat to Pablo Carreño Busta. These were especially painful losses to swallow for Djokovic, who had long prioritized playing for his country, and whose career had taken flight after he led Serbia to its first Davis Cup in 2010. At 37, would he realistically have another shot to bring a gold back to Belgrade?

Djokovic understood Alcaraz was the future, but if he could hold off the tide of youth for one more afternoon, he wanted it to be this one.

Read more on our pick for the year's best match, and relive Djokovic's long-awaited Olympic coronation, by clicking here.

Read more from our Best ATP Matches of the Year countdown:

• Best Grand Slam matches: **Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner go five in Paris, and more**
• Best ATP Masters 1000 matches: **Jannik Sinner outlasts Alexander Zverev in Cincinnati, and the best of the rest**
• Biggest comebacks: Novak Djokovic makes history with Lorenzo Musetti at Roland Garros, and more
• Biggest upsets: **Botic van de Zandschulp defeats Carlos Alcaraz in New York, and other stunners**