Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner: An epic final, three winners, and some crazy numbers at Roland Garros

Billie Jean King summed it up on her social media. The men's final of the 2025 Roland-Garros was an "epic match worthy of a movie, [in] more than five hours of play," wrote the former American player with 12 Grand Slam titles, one of the many personalities to have marveled at the battle of the titans delivered by Carlos Alcaraz, ultimately victorious, and Jannik Sinner , on Sunday, June 8 (4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6). A statement that the numbers of this unforgettable encounter confirm.

That's the length of this final, the longest in the history of the Parisian Grand Slam. It easily wipes out the 4 hour 42 minute marathon that the Swede Mats Wilander and the Argentinian Guillermo Vilas played in 1982 (in four sets). "I prefer to win in three sets, I'm not going to lie ," smiled Carlos Alcaraz at a press conference. "But when the situation is not in your favor, you have to fight. It's a Grand Slam final, it's not the time to be tired or to give up." And the new king of Roland-Garros concluded: "I think that true champions are forged in these situations."

That's the number of match points Carlos Alcaraz saved – or, depending on which side of the net you're looking at, missed by Jannik Sinner – in the fourth set. In the Open era, only two players have won a Grand Slam tournament after saving match points: Argentina's Gaston Gaudio at Roland Garros in 2004, and Serbia's Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2019. But they only had to save two, while the Spaniard had to defend three times – the first time, a powerful topspin forehand just stayed within bounds of the court. "His strength is to keep believing until the last ball is played ," his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero (winner in 2003), said in a press conference. " With Carlos, anything is possible (…) He was born for these moments."

"It might not have been the best opportunity for a debutant to come back into a match after losing the first two sets," joked Carlos Alcaraz after the match. While the Murcian, for the first time in his career, came back from a two-set deficit before winning, he becomes the ^ninth Grand Slam finalist to win after losing the first two sets, and the ^sixth at Roland Garros – the last time was in 2021, when Novak Djokovic upset Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas .

The first Grand Slam final to be decided by a "super tie-break" (in ten points) – a rule introduced in 2022 that aims to separate two players after five sets for men and a third for women – the match between the Italian world number 1 and his Spanish runner-up was more than close. One is also the difference in points that separates the two players (193 were won in total by Sinner, 192 by Alcaraz). Furthermore, 30 games were won by the Spaniard, compared to 29 for his opponent.

Although he had to fight a tough battle on Sunday to get the better of his Italian rival, Carlos Alcaraz keeps his streak in Grand Slam tournament finals intact. With five wins in as many appearances, the Spaniard is the active player with the best record at this level – tied with Poland's Iga Swiatek, in the women's event – ​​and he remains in a position to catch the Australian Margaret Court (8/8), the Swiss Roger Federer (7/7) and the former Yugoslav (who became American in 1994) Monica Seles (6/6), who were imperial in their first finals. Defeated, Jannik Sinner sees his winning streak of finals end at three (Australian Open 2024 and 2025 and US Open 2024).

Carlos Alcaraz won the first Grand Slam final between players born after the year 2000: Jannik Sinner was born in 2001 and the Spaniard in 2003. This first clash of the two men in a Major final calls for others. Especially since the tennis world, orphaned by the battles that pitted the members of the "Big 3" (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer), was enthusiastic about this encounter. "If people put our match on a par with Borg-McEnroe 1980 or Federer-Nadal 2008 at Wimbledon, it's a great honor ," said the Spaniard. "I don't know if our match is at the same level, but I'm happy to write it, as well as our names, in the history of the Grand Slams and Roland-Garros."

This is the number of viewers in front of their screens at the time of the match point won by Carlos Alcaraz, according to figures released by France Télévisions on Monday, June 9, citing Médiamétrie. On average, the longest final in the history of the Porte d'Auteuil tournament attracted 5.5 million viewers on France 2 and then France 3, the best audience for a final in Paris since Rafael Nadal's victory against Roger Federer in 2011 (5.3 million). There were " three winners in Paris today [Sunday] . Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, this beautiful game that is tennis," praised the former Swiss champion on the social network Instagram. "It's great to see that we can produce tennis like this." "It's good for tennis as a whole," added Jannik Sinner, confessing nevertheless that he would have been "even happier [if he] had won the trophy."