Losing to your arch rival in front of millions of spectators (including Bruce Springsteen) can’t feel great. Losing to your arch rival and having to pose next to him wearing a slightly worse version of the same outfit, however, is a whole other level of hurt. That’s the scenario that unfolded over the weekend in Queens, after Carlos Alcaraz handily bested Jannik Sinner in the men’s singles final of the US Open, then showed him up on the podium wearing an identical—and significantly more flattering—Nike tracksuit.
Alcaraz’s ensemble was a regal shade of purple, which complemented both his skin tone and his massive US Open trophy. Sinner’s corresponding look, meanwhile, was a court-jesterly shade of burnt orange that didn’t quite work with his pale complexion and ginger curls. Their watches, both Rolex Daytonas, as fate—and corporate sponsorship—would have it, told a similar story of aesthetic one-upsmanship. Alcaraz sported the new-for-2025 yellow gold ‘Tona with an extremely covetable turquoise dial, and his god-tier grail easily outshone Sinner’s more subdued “sundust” rose gold version. The kicker? It wasn’t the first time.
As Sinner and Alcaraz have dueled for the number-one spot in the ATP rankings, they’ve turned out in matching fits with surprising regularity this season, from twin rugbies at the French Open to identical black zip-ups at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia. Sure, there are only so many clothes to choose from on this season’s Nike sample rack, but you’d think someone, somewhere at Swoosh HQ would see the merit of making sure that the two biggest stars in professional tennis don’t show up to the party wearing the same thing. Especially if one of them is going to be wearing head-to-toe burnt orange.
Sinner and Alcaraz, of course, surely have weightier things on their mind than wardrobe planning as their rivalry picks up steam. For the rest of us, however, the case of the twinning tennis champs offers a useful cautionary tale. Should you ever find yourself in the same room as someone wearing the same outfit as you, you have two options:
1. Do everything in your power to make sure you’re never caught standing side by side.
2. Make like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito and lean into it.
Unless, that is, you’re the one holding the US Open trophy. In which case, no one’s going to be looking at the other guy anyway.
