Roland-Garros’ final goes into history. It won’t be the last one between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner – and rightly so.
5:29 hours. The two world’s best tennis players in direct duel. Five sets plus match-tiebreak. The maximum distance. Fight until they fall over. Through profit strikes, errors, points, missed opportunities, cramps, exhaustion. Nobody gives up, nobody loses faith, both with the unconditional will. Hope. Despair. Disappointment. Tremble. Cheers. Craziness.
4: 6, 6: 7, 6: 4, 7: 6, 7: 6. What the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and the Italian Jannik Sinner showed in this record finale of the French Open was rousing. Dramatic. Epic. Both, the audience in the Court Philippe-Chatrier, we all won’t forget this final, with all its surprises, his twists, his emotions. A word: wow!
A final that didn’t really deserve a loser. A final that actually has no loser. But only winners. Alcaraz, this massive fighting lion on the red ashes of Paris. Sinner, this stubborn, elegant fighter. And the tennis ever.
The unique time of the “big three”, which have dominated tennis for almost two decades, faces their final end: The Great Roger Federer and the no less large Rafael Nadal have long since ended their careers, and for the now 38-year-old record-Grand Slam winner Novak Djoković is getting closer and closer to the end of his legendary career.
But you know the tennis in the best hands. Because the passionate, loud, extroverted “Carlitos” and the self -contained, always dominated redhead “fox”, born in 2003 and 2001, they are the new figureheads of this sport. Outstanding on the pitch, humanly moving, grounded, personable.
You have done what the actual “Next Generation” around Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas or Casper Ruud was unable to reach for years: you have torn the tennis throne since 2024. Even more: You snatched him Djoković, the last remaining grandeur from the former Phalanx, and his supposed heirs. Eight of the last eleven Grand Slam tournaments had either Alcaraz or Sinner as the winner, the last six even in a row.
In Paris, they now showed in a direct duel why: joke, fighting spirit, the irrepressible will to success, passion, persistence, energy, esprit. Almost five and a half hours.
This battle on the sand of Paris was the first Grand Slam final of the two against each other. And one for the history books. It won’t remain the last. “We tried everything, gave everything we have,” said Sinner after the final. “It’s hard, but I’m also happy with this second place.” Because there was no real loser this Sunday evening at Bois de Boulogne.