If you come for the king, you best not miss.
Unfortunately for Jannik Sinner, he fell agonisingly short in his bid to dethrone Carlos Alcaraz as the Spaniard prevailed in a five-set epic on Court Philippe-Chatrier to win back-to-back French Open titles.
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In a contest for the ages, Alcaraz climbed off the canvas to record a thrilling 4-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (10-2) victory over the Italian.
The duo’s nail-biting fifth-set tiebreaker marked the first time a Grand Slam final had been decided under the new ten-point tie-breaker rules.
Though it’s not the first time a men’s Grand Slam final has been settled on a tie-break after 6-6 ion the first set, with Dominic Thiem prevailing against Alexander Zverev at the US Open in 2020.
In another record-breaking stat, Alcaraz and Sinner played out the longest French Open final in history at five hours and 29 minutes.
The previous longest final at Roland Garros had been four hours and 42 minutes in 1982 when Mats Wilander and Guillermo Vilas competed for the trophy.
By overcoming Sinner, Alcaraz has become the first man not named Rafael Nadal to win back-to-back French Open titles since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001.
Remarkably, it is the first time in the Spaniard’s career that he has won a five-setter from two sets behind having lost the previous eight encounters in that scenario.
As for Sinner, he was left to rue what could, and his eyes should, have been.
The Italian was agonisingly close to clinching his first French Open triumph when he boasted three championship points at 5-3 in the fourth set.
But Alcaraz scraped and clawed his way back into the contest to not only save those points but take the set to a tiebreak, which he went on to win.
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Sinner understandably cut a desolate figure after the contest as he tasted defeat in the grand slam final for the first time in his young career.
The 23-year-old’s loss also meant Adriano Panatta remains the last Italian male to win the French Open, which he did so in 1976.
Sinner went into the final riding a stunning 20-match winning streak at grand slams thanks to his triumphant runs at the 2024 US Open and the Australian Open earlier this year.
It looked like Sinner would stretch that figure to 21 when he raced out to a two-set lead thanks to some sensational tennis.
Given Sinner had not dropped a single set at this year’s French Open, there would have been cause for concern amid Alcaraz’s supporters knowing how dominant the Italian had been in the French capital.
But Alcaraz quickly shook himself from stasis.
More to follow…