Sinner Bids For His First Roland-Garros Title Against Defending Champ Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner, Roland Garros
Jannik Sinner (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, June 8, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

When Jannik Sinner walks out on Court Philippe-Chatrier to face Carlos Alcaraz for the men’s singles title of Roland-Garros Sunday afternoon in Paris, the World No. 1 from Italy will be chasing after his third consecutive major title, while the World No. 2 from Spain will be looking to successfully defend his French Open crown.

In this highly-anticipated title match between two of the sport’s brightest young stars – the first time Sinner and Alcaraz have met in a Grand Slam final – Alcaraz comes in as a four-time major winner and he’s beaten the Italian No. 1 four straight times, including last year in Paris, when the 22-year-old Spaniard won a 5-set semifinal thriller.

Alcaraz is 33-2 on clay since May of last year, including 18-1 in Paris – and, now, he is the fifth-youngest man to reach five major finals in the Open Era. This season, Alcaraz is 21-1 on clay with his only setback coming in the final of the ATP 500-series event in Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Sinner arrives riding high on a 20-match winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments, which began when he won the US Open last year and continued with his triumph at the Australian Open last January. He’s the youngest to win 20 straight matches in majors since Pete Sampras of the United States in 1993-94. Sinner has won his last 29 sets played at the Grand Slam level since losing the second set to Holger Rune in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

The Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry – Alcaraz leads the career head-to-head 7-4 – can be characterized for its all-court prowess, in which both players have shown their power and movement from both the baseline as well as closer to the net and for their ability to hit winners from anywhere on the court.

Here’s what each said Friday following their respective semifinal victories – Sinner in straight sets over 24-time major champion and three-time Roland-Garros titlist Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz by retirement during the fourth set over Lorenzo Musetti – in interviews with Mary Jo Fernandez on TNT Sports:

– Sinner on playing Djokovic: “Amazing, you know it doesn’t get any better than this. He’s such an incredible player. He shows it. I was lucky to practice with him when I was very young, and I was lucky to get some information from him. It’s amazing what he’s been doing. He’s an inspiration to players – especially our younger generation – he shows up running for every ball with incredible intensity. So, it’s amazing playing against him. You could feel it before the match; you could feel it throughout the match when things get very complicated. I’m very how I handled the situation. Obviously, I’m happy to be in the final.”

– Sinner on what he enjoys about playing against Alcaraz: “I have to play my best tennis if I want to play even – not even if I want to win. Let’s see what’s coming. I’m very happy to be in the final, to have another chance and trying to do something different, trying to understand what’s working well against him and what is not – and then we see. Granted finals are different, they can be very long, they can be also be short. It depends on who plays very, very well and maybe the other one does not have the right day. Anything can happen. I’m happy. I wouldn’t have thought to find myself here in this position. So, let’s see what comes.”

– Alcaraz what it means to be in back-to-back Roland-Garros finals: “It means a lot. I’m just really happy and proud of everything I’ve done in the two weeks here at Roland-Garros. It’s not the way I wanted to win any match. I wish Lorenzo a good recovery, to see him pretty soon again. Being back-to-back in the finals at Roland-Garros is a great achievement. Sunday, I think it’s going to be a beautiful and great day.”

– Alcaraz on taking a picture of Rafael Nadal‘s commemorative on-court plaque: “It’s the first time I warmed up here before a match, so I just wanted to make the most of the time. I wanted to take a picture of it. A little bit of Rafa Nadal is a great inspiration. I try not to think about it too much during the match, but during difficult matches I do think of the effort and level of Rafa, how he is fighting all the time … I wanted to take a positive memory of Rafa from the plaque.”

Djokovic goes out with distinction, will he return next year?

Shortly after Novak Djokovic lost his semifinal match to World No. 1 and top seed Jannik Sinner, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3), Friday night, and after they shared a warm embrace at the net, the 24-time Grand Slam champion took his time to walk off Court Philippe-Chatrier. He put his racquet bag down in the middle of the court, then turned and applauded to fans on all sides of the stadium.

Djokovic’s gesture of good will – and the way he approached his departure – kissing his hand after the defeat, then putting it on the clay as if saying farewell, seemed to cast doubt on whether he will be back at Roland-Garros next year to go after a fourth French Open singles crown.

“I mean, this could have been the last match ever I played here, so I don’t know,” the 38-year-old said later during his post-match news conference. “That’s why I was a bit more emotional even in the end.

“But if this was the farewell match of the Roland-Garros for me in my career, it was a wonderful one in terms of the atmosphere and what I got from the crowd.”

Afterward, Djokovic collected his racquet bag, looked up into the stands, then walked off Court Philippe-Chatrier to the applause of the 15,000 fans who filled the stands.

“Do I wish to play more? Yes, I do. But will I be able to play here in 12 months’ time? I don’t know,” Djokovic said. “I said it could have been my last match (here); I didn’t say it was.”

Djokovic said he definitely plans to play at Wimbledon, which begins later this month on June 30, and the US Open in August. However, beyond those two majors, he’s unsure of his future plans.

“I don’t know really what tomorrow brings in a way at this point in my career,” Djokovic said. “You know, I am going to keep on keeping on. Wimbledon is next, which is my childhood favorite tournament. I’m going to do everything possible to get myself ready.”

In champion Coco Gauff’s own words

After 21-year-old American Coco Gauff won her second major title and first at Roland-Garros on Saturday, she gave a memorable speech in accepting the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen trophy after rallying to defeat World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4, in two hours and 38 minutes.

Granollers and Zeballos win first major doubles title together

In the nearly six years since Spain’s Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina first teamed up as doubles partners, back in Montreal in 2019, they had never won a Grand Slam title together. On Saturday night, it all changed after the No. 5 seeds fought past No. 8 seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, 6-0, 6-7 (5), 7-5, in two hours and 22 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier to win the Roland-Garros men’s doubles crown.

Roland-Garros represented the fourth major final that Granollers, 39, and Zeballos, 40, had played in, after reaching the title matches at the 2019 US Open and twice at Wimbledon, 2021 and 2023. However, this time, they found a way to lift the champion’s trophy.

At 3-all in the final set and facing a deciding point at 40-40, Zeballos hit a winner in which he flicked a difficult backhand that traveled between the net post and sponsor sign, separated by half a meter, and landed in the doubles alley much to the amazement of everyone. It provided the Spanish/Argentine duo with a 4-3 lead and the boost they needed to win the title.

The winners combined to hit six aces and 46 overall winners, won 71 percent (55 of 77) of their first-serve points, converted five of 11 break points and outpointed Salisbury and Skupski 103-84.

It was the 183rd win at tour-level for Granollers and Zeballo. Their title victory improved their win-loss record this season to 17-5.

Saturday’s Roland-Garros results

Sunday’s Roland-Garros order of play

By the numbers

While Jannik Sinner has not dropped a set in advancing to his first final at Roland-Garros, Carlos Alcaraz has won their last four meetings and leads their head-to-head series 7-4. While Sinner is aiming for the fourth major title of his career, Alcaraz is chasing after his fifth.

“Quotable …”

“It’s a unique joy. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of winning Roland Garros, and today we finally did it after several chances. I am very happy and I dedicate this to my family and our team.”

– Horacio Zeballos, 40, of Argentina, during his post-championship match remarks after winning the Roland-Garros men’s doubles title, as quoted by the ATP Tour website.

“I’m happy to have won it with Horacio. We’ve had many years of good results, and the major finals we lost were difficult moments, but we knew how to persevere. We never stopped trying, and today we have our reward.”

– Marcel Granollers, 39, of Spain, during his post-championship match remarks after winning the Roland-Garros men’s doubles title, as quoted by the ATP Tour website.

 

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