By Roger Childs

Victory belongs to the most tenacious. –Aviator Roland Garros

One of the greatest matches

Carlos Alcaraz was the most tenacious, just. In beating world number one Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (10-2) the Spaniard won his fifth grand slam. At 5 hours 29 minutes the final was the longest in French Open history. 

This climax to the men’s singles featured tennis of the highest quality and provided the enthusiastic and highly vocal crowd with wonderful entertainment as the initiative kept changing. It was fitting that the match should end in a tie break, as in this third breaker both players could have won the championship.

This was unquestionable one of the great slam finals of all time ranking with the legendary Wimbledon final of 2008 when Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 and the following year when the Swiss maestro outlasted American Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 3-6,16-14. 

Keeping the fans on the edge of their seats

The mark of a great player is how he/she responds to adversity and comes back from being behind. A great example of this was when in the fourth set at Roland Garros when Sinner was leading 5-3 and 40-0. The Italian had three championship points. Then playing brilliantly Alcaraz won five points in a row and following this game by holding his serve to make it five all and subsequently won the set.

In the fifth set Alcaraz broke Sinner’s serve in the first game and only had to win all his own serves to win the match.  However at 5-3 to the Spaniard, Sinner broke the Alcaraz serve and ultimately forced the set into a tie-break. 

A commentator last year observed about Carlos Alcaraz that He doesn’t have a flaw in his game. The same applies to Jannik Sinner. Both players have fast reliable serves and strong ground strokes. A feature of the match in Paris was amazing rallies characterized by many tightly-angled returns often within a few centimetres of or on, the doubles line or the baseline. 

Both had a number of winners and most of Sinner’s were speedy backhands down the line. Meanwhile Alcaraz specialized in powerful forehands down the line and cleverly disguised drop shots. Both players volleyed and smashed ruthlessly.

Moving on to Wimbledon

Players now move on to the London tournament and the surface shifts from clay to grass. There a number of smaller tournaments on grass before Wimbledon to allow the players to adjust to the change of surface, in London, Berlin, Bad Homberg, Eastbourne, and Antalaya in Turkey. 

After nearly four months without a grand slam Wimbledon begins three weeks after Roland Garros. Last year Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in three sets and Serb will again be seeking his 25^th grand slam. 

Sinner was unexpectedly beaten in the quarter-finals by Daniil Medvedev in 2024 but I would expect him to go further this year. Even after losing in Paris at the weekend, he retains his top ranking the world. He could even meet Carlos Alcaraz again in the Wimbledon final. They will be the first and second seeds.