Carlos Alcaraz’s French Open Comeback Is the Sports Moment of the Year
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Carlos Alcaraz Wins French Open in Sports Moment of the Year
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain beat Jannik Sinner of Italy in the French Open final on Sunday. The match took five hours and 29 minutes, making it the longest final in the tournament’s history. It was the first time in 23 years that the two players had met in a Grand Slam final. AlcarAZ won his second straight French Open title, beating Sinner 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4),7-6 (10-2), in the final. He is the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win a calendar-year Grand Slam title, something no man has done since. The final was the second longest major final of all time (Novak Djokovic and Nadal went 5 hours, 53 minutes at the 2012 Australian Open). The match was played at Roland Garros in Paris, France, in front of a crowd of more than 100,000 people. The French Open will be held from June 8 to June 15.
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Maybe this was just his moment. But Alcaraz, whose fighting abilities naturally call to mind his fellow countryman Rafael Nadal—the 14-time French Open champion who was honored at the start of the tournament, and who has a statue in his honor at Roland Garros—wasn’t done. Alcaraz roared back to force a second-set tiebreaker. Sinner prevailed to go up two sets to love. Alcaraz made it interesting, but he had never come back from two sets down to win a match. Alcaraz got back in his groove to take the third set, 6-4. Sinner, though, was all set to finish it out in the fourth. Sinner had a 5-3 lead, and on Alcaraz’s serve, had three championship points. Three chances to win a third straight major and start thinking about a calendar-year Grand Slam, something no man has accomplished since Rod Laver did it in 1969. After the match, Alcaraz said he tried not to think of his predicament at this moment. On the first point, a rally ended with Sinner sending a shot long on the run. On the second one, Alcaraz’s second serve had enough kick on it to force a Sinner backhand return into the net. Sinner stuck a forehand into the net during a baseline rally on the third point: he had squandered a golden opportunity.
Carlos Alcaraz with the trophy after his victory against Jannik Sinner of Italy in the final of the men’s singles competition at the French Open June 8th, 2025 Tim Clayton–Getty Images
By this point, the Roland Garros crowd was cheering wildly for Alcaraz. It was nothing personal against Sinner. The fans were just impressed that he rose from the dead. And they wanted to see these two transcendent young players keep going at it. Alcaraz sent the crowd further into a frenzy by breaking Sinner’s serve to force a fourth-set tiebreaker, which Alcaraz won convincingly. Sinner seemed to struggle with fatigue at the start of the fifth set. He started limping slightly after charging in for a short ball. Alcaraz took advantage of Sinner’s diminished state to pull a couple of drop shots out of his hat: all that running and lunging Sinner was doing at the start was no more. Alcaraz went up 3-1 in the deciding set. He was in total control. Sinner had to be thinking about the three match points he squandered in the fourth set. Maybe Alcaraz would toy with Sinner the rest of the way.
Read More: Serena Williams Is Still at the Top of Her Game Now it was Sinner’s turn to flip the switch. With Alcaraz serving at 5-4 to win his second straight French Open title, he tried another drop shot: this time, Sinner summoned enough life force to get a racket on the ball right before it touched the clay. He broke Alcaraz’s serve and we were off to a match-deciding, 10-point tiebreaker. This breathtaking final had already exceeded five hours. Alcaraz won out from there. He took the first seven points of the tiebreaker. On match point, he fired a running passing-shot rocket up the sideline past Sinner. Somehow, at the end, Alcaraz appeared to have plenty left in the tank. Alcaraz won his fifth major in just as many finals appearances, 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6 (10-2). The match took five hours, 29 minutes, making it the longest French Open final in history, and the second longest major final of all time (Novak Djokovic and Nadal went 5 hours, 53 minutes, at the 2012 Australian Open).
“This was one of the all-timers,” said John McEnroe on the TNT broadcast after it ended.
This was the first time Alcaraz, 22, and Sinner, 23, met in a Grand Slam championship. Tennis cannot be in better hands, for the next decade or more.
“Honestly I don’t know what I did,” Alcaraz, like the rest of us at a loss for words, said on TNT afterward. “I don’t know what happened.”
But it did. The sports moment of 2025. And one of the best duels in the history of tennis.
‘GREATEST EVER’: French Open ‘insanity’ as absurd comeback decides all-time thriller
Carlos Alcaraz beats Italy’s Jannik Sinner to win the French Open. The Spaniard came from two sets down to win 4-6 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (3) 7-4 in 5hr 29min. It is the longest final ever played at Roland Garros. It was also the first grand slam final between the two ascending champions. The 22-year-old held his nerve in testing rallies to reel off his five straight points in the fourth set to keep his French Open title afloat. The match was the first time a player has ever come from a two set deficit to win a grand slam title. It also was the longest French Open final in the history of the tournament. The winner will face either Rafael Nadal or Stan Wawrinka in the final on Sunday. The final will be shown live on Sky Sports at 8pm (AEST) on Sunday night. It will also be shown on Channel 5 at 9pm on Monday night.
As tennis fans around the world rose in adulation, Alcaraz collapsed onto the clay as Sinner stood stricken and stunned at the net.
With a phenomenal flourish that furthered his legend, the Spaniard has just completed the improbable by overcoming three match points in the fourth set to defend his French Open title in the longest final ever played at Roland Garros.
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The first grand slam final between the two ascending champions lived up to its billing as the hottest ticket in world sport and far more as Alcaraz came from an improbable position to win an epic 4-6 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (3) 7-6 (3) in 5hr 29min.
If it is not the greatest final played — and it would take an argument as strong as the will of both Alcaraz and Sinner to convince otherwise — it is in most firmly in the conversation. From the brilliance of the tennis to the superb sportsmanship of both men, this had everything.
‘WHAT JUST HAPPENED?’ Sporting world floored over ‘truly epic’ French Open climax
Alcaraz books French Open final spot | 00:53
PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 08: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain plays a backhand at the net against against Jannik Sinner of Italy during the Men’s Singles Final match on Day Fifteen of the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros on June 08, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images
After embracing Sinner and summoning the energy to run into the stands to thank a team that includes his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, both finalists received another standing ovation as they received their trophies from American legend Andre Agassi.
“I want to start with Jannik. It is amazing the level you have. Honestly I know how hard you are chasing this tournament,” Alcaraz said.
“I am pretty sure you are going to be champion not once, but many, many times, and it is a privilege to be sharing the court with you. I am just really happy to make history with you in this tournament and other tournaments.”
The duo both had perfect records in grand slam finals heading into the decider, which is not surprising given their excellence.
Something had to give in their first meeting in a major final and it was Sinner who ultimately suffered his first loss from four outings, but only after Alcaraz was able to pull off his first ever comeback from a two set deficit.
“It is an amazing performance. An amazing battle. An amazing everything. You deserve this. Congrats,” Sinner said.
“It is easier to play than talking now, but to my team, thank you so much for putting me in this position. We tried our best today. We gave everything we had. It is still an amazing tournament, even though it is very, very difficult now. But it is OK.”
To conjure this comeback against a champion of the quality of Sinner, who was seeking a third straight major and his first Roland Garros title, elevates the deed completed by Alcaraz to the highest of orders.
Winner Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz (R) poses with the trophy next to Italy’s Jannik Sinner at the end of their men’s singles final match on day 15 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 8, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP) Source: AFP
A couple of hours earlier, Alcaraz had faced three championship points when trailing 3-5, 0-40 in the fourth set in Paris.
Sinner had been extraordinary until that point, with the pressure he applied to the Spaniard unrelenting as he sought to win his first French Open and keep his Grand Slam dream alive.
But against an artisan of clay like Alcaraz, even the extraordinary did not prove enough.
A fortnight after Rafael Nadal was honoured for his exceptional feats in Paris, Alcaraz summoned the courage, brilliance and resilience of his idol and compatriot to pull off the unbelievable.
Now the owner of five grand slam titles, the 22-year-old held his nerve in testing rallies to reel off five straight points to keep his French Open title defence afloat in that service game to move to 4-5.
Sinner had served with ruthless efficiency over the past fortnight. But Alcaraz is on another level. With the crowd roaring in unabashed delight, the Spaniard broke for the sixth time in the match to draw level at 5-all. Long live the Spaniard.
With a tiebreaker reached for the second time in the match, Sinner sizzled initially, only to be overwhelmed by the onslaught unleashed by an animated Alcaraz playing inspired tennis.
PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 08: Jannik Sinner of Italy prepares to serve against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain during the Men’s Singles Final match on Day Fifteen of the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros on June 08, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images) Source: Getty Images
Despite the decider now being in its fifth hour, Alcaraz bounded out of his chair to fist pump a crowd belting out the John Denver classic Sweet Caroline prior to the start of the fifth set.
Sinner, who manages his emotions like an assassin armed with a racquet, sat calmly in his courtside chair. But the mask must have been a front given what had just unfolded on court.
Thirty minutes earlier the Roland Garros Championship appeared his. He should have been holding the Champions Trophy aloft by now. Having already claimed the Australian Open, he should have been halfway to a Grand Slam this year.
Now he was in the dogfight of his life against an inspired opponent, the defending champion, a bullfighter in the tradition of Nadal, who also had the benefit of having a baying crowd behind him.
Sinner had been in a nightmare of similar proportions once before against Alcaraz when, at the US Open in 2022, the teenager saved a match point to beat him in five sets on the way to winning his first grand slam title in a triumph that propelled him to No.1 for the first time. This match was a step up on that classic.
To his immense credit, Sinner continued to fight as the match somehow continued to rise in standard. The momentum was all Alcaraz but Sinner strived valiantly to stay alive against the tide and had opportunities early on in the decider.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner reacts after a point during his men’s singles final match against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on day 15 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP) Source: AFP
Similar to the match as a whole, the fifth set was a pulsating set full of drama, with both men producing scintillating winners and spectacular moments.
Strangled by Sinner’s weight of shot in the first two sets, Alcaraz was able to execute more of his flair from the third set onward and those flourishes came to the fore in the fifth set.
Time and again he drop shotted Sinner, who has never won a match extending beyond four hours and was only one month into his return from a contentious three month suspension.
This stretched the legs of the Italian who, having dropped serve in the opening game of the deciding set, was now being challenged to the extremes of his endurance.
But it proved far from a waltz to victory for Alcaraz, with Sinner firing winners from both wings and producing opportunities to level once again.
As the match time reached five hours, and shortly after Sinner clubbed another backhand to hold serve and move to 4-5, the DJ played the Queen classic We Are The Champions.
The two aspirants are and Sinner was indeed “fighting to the end”. And now the challenge was on Alcaraz to serve out the championship.
In a final as astonishing as this one, against a rival like Sinner, it was never going to be easy. And so it proved, with the world No.1 producing a phenomenal game to break back, in part due to a awesome drop shot played off an Alcaraz stopper. This drama? Too much.
Documentaries could be told about Alcaraz’s last service game as he sought to force a match tiebreaker, let alone the match itself.
The lunging squash defensive shot Alcaraz conjured off Sinner’s sizzling return at 5-6, 30-all was otherworldly. It should have been a winning return from Sinner, yet somehow Alcaraaz got there and then whipped a backhand winner two shots later.
Sinner’s response? A blasting backhand return that cleaned the back of the line. To force the deciding tiebreaker, Alcaraz dug deepest into his arsenal and whipped a backhand winner from a couple of metres behind the baseline past the advancing Sinner.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz reacts during his men’s singles final match against Italy’s Jannik Sinner on day 15 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP) Source: AFP
Alcaraz began the match tiebreaker with two blazing forehand winners. On the fourth point he struck a lunging drive forehand winner to pass the Italian stricken at the net.
By the time they changed ends, Alcaraz had won the past eight points of the match and led 6-0. He whipped a backhand winner up the line to move to 7-0. At that point, Sinner paused for a moment with his hands on his hip. How could he not? No-one could be that good.
Sinner won a couple of points. Would this phenomenal final flip on its head once again? Not if Alcaraz had a say in it.
And then came the forehand. It brought an end to an absolute classic. But it confirms this could become an all-time rivalry.
Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz celebrates with the trophy after winning the final match of the French Tennis Open against Italy’s Jannik Sinner at the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) Source: AP
Source: https://time.com/7292114/carlos-alcaraz-wins-french-open-2025/