Carlos Alcaraz produced one of the great grand slam comebacks to defend his French Open title after edging a five-set thriller to beat Jannik Sinner on Sunday.
Carlos Alcaraz became the fourth player this century to win a men's singles Grand Slam title for four consecutive years after the 'Big 3' (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic)
Carlos Alcaraz produced one of the great grand slam comebacks to defend his French Open title after edging a five-set thriller to beat Jannik Sinner on Sunday.
Alcaraz found himself two sets down and had never won from such a deficit in his career, but the Spaniard was able to produce a miracle display on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The world number two emerged a 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-2) victor in arguably one of the greatest encounters to ever take place at the iconic clay courts in Paris.
In what was a first grand slam meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz, the top two put on a display that will go down in history, and more than lived up to the billing.
The five-hour and 29-minute epic was also the longest men's singles final at Roland-Garros in the Open Era, surpassing the previous record held by Mats Wilander and Guillermo Vilas in 1982, which lasted four hours and 42 minutes.
The top two in the rankings traded blows in the opening game, with Alcaraz squandering three break points in the opening game, which was the pattern in the opening stages.
Alcaraz grabbed the first break in the fifth game, only for Sinner to respond straight after, with the Italian taking the first set in an enthralling one-hour and two-minute slog.
Sinner appeared to be in cruise control after an early break in the second, but Alcaraz was able to level up the set, so a tie-break would decide which way this contest was going.
And the world number one got the job done at the third time of asking to take a 2-0 lead in sets, but that only lit the fire inside Alcaraz's belly, and he came out fighting in the third.
Back-to-back breaks from both players opened the third set, though Alcaraz was able to win the next three in a row to take a 4-1 lead and haul himself into this epic final.
Despite a break from Sinner in the ninth game, Alcaraz repeated the trick with a love service game to ensure the match continued, though it was Sinner who looked revitalised.
Sinner broke to take a 4-3 lead and had three championship points in the ninth game, but against the serve, was unable to break the resilient Alcaraz, who managed to stay alive.
Alcaraz was then able to convert that into another tie-break, and miraculously managed to take the game to a deciding set, with the Spaniard riding the wave of momentum with him.
The Spaniard looked to be in cruise control after earning a break in the first game of the fifth set, and held that advantage to give himself the opportunity to serve for the title, only for Sinner to roar back into contention.
For only the second time in the Open Era, a men's singles grand slam final will be decided at the fifth-set tie-break, after Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev at the US Open in 2020.
And it was all Alcaraz, as he reeled off seven perfect, unanswered points to put himself in the driving seat, and his resolve never wavered, smashing one last forehand winner down the line before dropping to the floor, overcome with the emotion of winning.
A miracle made in Murcia
Alcaraz appeared destined to lose his perfect record in grand slam finals after finding himself two sets down to Sinner in the French capital. Indeed, only five times in the Open Era has the Roland-Garros champion lost the first two sets of the showpiece.
The 22-year-old had also never won a best-of-five match so far in his career, having lost the opening two sets, losing all eight of those such matches. In this case, Alcaraz had other ideas, turning this into a marathon encounter for the ages.
After emerging victorious, he became the fourth player this century to win a men's singles grand slam title for four consecutive years after the 'Big 3' (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic).
He is also the third player in the Open Era to win a men's singles grand slam final after having saved match point(s) after Gaston Gaudio (Roland-Garros 2004) and Djokovic (Wimbledon 2019).
Indeed, only Bjorn Borg (six) has won more men's singles grand slam titles than Alcaraz (five, level with Rod Laver and John McEnroe) after his first 17 appearances in such events in the Open Era.
Alcaraz, who claimed his second French Open title on Sunday, is also the player with the most men's singles grand slam finals played in the Open Era without ever losing (5-0).
There is no disputing that this was arguably his greatest display to date.
The one that got away
Sinner had a fourth grand slam title within his grasp, but those nerves seemingly got the better of him as he was unable to find a way to weather the storm from Alcaraz, with their blossoming rivalry destined to bring up more epic matches.
The Italian had won his last 29 matches after taking the opening set. However, the last time he lost in the same situation was in the Beijing final last season. And guess who was the man to defeat him? Of course, it was Alcaraz.
The 22-year-old has had Sinner's number in recent years. In fact, since the start of 2024, Sinner is 90-3 against everyone else other than Alcaraz, but 0-5 against the Spaniard in the same time.
This was the ninth consecutive ATP-level final in a row for Sinner, and he has triumphed in five of those, but most telling is that all four defeats came at Alcaraz's hand.
By the time Sinner took a two-set lead, he had won his last 31 in a row at grand slams, dating back to the fourth round at the Australian Open against Holger Rune.
Now, he holds the unfortunate record of being the first player in the Open Era to win the first 20 sets of a men's singles grand slam event and not lift the title.
Sinner will always look back on this as the one that could have been, and wonder just how he let it slip through his fingers.