Photo: Zuma Press via Alamy
It’s been two days since Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner carved their masterpiece into the clay of Philippe Chatrier and I can’t lie, I’m still buzzing about it. Five and a half hours of pure theatre, palpable drama, heart-racing excitement, unparalleled shotmaking. It was beautiful and chaotic, delivering to its potential up to the very last point. The kind of match that makes you grateful to be a fan of this beautiful, brutal sport.
Carlos Alcaraz clawed back from two sets down, saved three championship points, broke serve when he had to, and somehow—walked off Court Philippe-Chatrier, as a two-time champion, defeating World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in five sets, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. It still feels surreal.
Alcaraz and Sinner put their names in the conversation for greatest Grand Slam match of all time. Sure, it’s arguable if anything will ever beat Federer v. Nadal at Wimbledon in 2008, however, Sunday night, the game’s brightest young guns made their case. We’re going to be hard pressed to have a match of this caliber, with this weight on the regular. A new bar, for where the game is and where it’s going, has been set.
This was the 12th time Alcaraz and Sinner had squared up—Alcaraz now leads 8-4—but their first dance in a Grand Slam final hit different in every way. As the Big Three era had loomed so large, for so long, many wondered what could possibly come next. On Sunday, Alcaraz and Sinner left no doubts.
Alcaraz was true to form, at times undisciplined, but always physical while pulling off shots that would make you gasp audibly. It’s the uncertainty and creativity that makes him so electric. Sinner remained the calm, stoic, all business-like assassin. Steady and consistent—until he uncharacteristically wasn’t. It’s debatable whether it was a Sinner collapse or simply Alcaraz’s refusal to lose, but what we witnessed was the game and its combatants being pushed to the absolute limits.
On the deciding point, there was only one shot that Alcaraz could have hit for a winner, a shot so ridiculous that even I didn’t think he would dare attempt it, but he did, because only he could. A running forehand pass—poetry in motion—A shot so incredible, and with such magnitude, listing it as simply a “winner” on the stat sheet serves it no justice. A shot unfathomable in my wildest of dreams.
Regardless of the outcome, the pair separated themselves in the conversation about today’s best. This is the rivalry tennis was looking for, the rivalry it needed, and thus far, they're exceeding expectations. The sport has two faces to carry the flame and we get front-row seats to watch them set it ablaze. After an epic in Paris, one thing’s for sure, Alcaraz and Sinner aren’t waiting to define the future of tennis. They’re defining it now, in the present—writing history one chapter at a time.
