Alcaraz And Sinner Poised To Build Upon Their Rivalry After Roland-Garros

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, June 10, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have combined to win the last six Grand Slam titles. If Sunday’s epic five-hour, 29-minute spectacular final at Roland-Garros – the longest men’s final in the clay-court major’s long and storied history – is any indicator, they appear poised to build upon one of the sport’s most compelling rivalries.

Time will tell, but Alcaraz and Sinner could have the staying power to stand next to other big tennis rivalries like Borg-McEnroe, Evert-Navratilova, Federer-Nadal and Nadal-Djokovic. After all, they’re both young, athletic and only in their early twenties.

What Alcaraz’s five-set triumph, after coming back from two-sets-to-none down against Sinner, delivered was this: a match that was full of intensity. It was punctuated by grueling back-and-forth baseline rallies, coupled with the surprise element of drop shots and the brilliance of perfectly-angled passing shots.

It all added up to a thrilling display of tennis before a sellout crowd of 15,000 fans, who packed Court Philippe-Chatrier on a warm day with a light breeze – and cheered their hearts out for both finalists. Indeed, Stade Roland-Garros was the place to be on Sunday. There were champions of sport – Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Martina Navratilova, Dirk Nowitski and Tony Parker – as well as champions of entertainment such as Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Pharrell Williams and Spike Lee in attendance.

Alcaraz’s latest victory, his 37th of the season and 22nd on clay, rewarded him with his fifth Grand Slam title and he’s still undefeated in major finals. The 22-year-old from Murcia, Spain had successfully defended his Roland-Garros title and later this month will attempt to do the same at Wimbledon.

On social media, Roger Federer, who retired after winning 20 majors, wrote: “3 winners in Paris today,” suggesting that Alcaraz, Sinner “and the beautiful game of tennis” were all victorious. “What a match!”

“I prefer to win in three sets honestly. I’m not going to lie,” Alcaraz said during his champion’s news conference with a hint of laughter in his voice. Then he got more serious. “But when the situations are against you, you have to fight and keep fighting. It is a Grand Slam final. It’s no time to be tired. It’s no time to give up. It’s time to keep fighting, trying to find your moment, your good place again, and just go for it.

“I think the real champions are made in situations when you deal with that pressure, with those situations, in the best way possible,” Alcaraz added. “That’s what the real champions have done in their whole careers. I’m just trying to feel comfortable in the situations with pressure and not be afraid of it.”

It was the fifth straight time Alcaraz had beaten Sinner. He now owns an 8-4 win-loss record against the 23-year-old Italian from San Candido. This one provided him with his 20th career ATP Tour-level title.

During the trophy ceremony Sunday evening, Alcaraz told Sinner: “I’m pretty sure you are going to be a champion, not once but many, many times. It is a privilege to share the court with you in every tournament, making history with you.”

Reflecting upon the adversity of losing his first major final after winning his first three – and after winning 20 straight Grand Slam matches leading up the title match, including not dropping any sets during the Parisian fortnight before the final – Sinner tried to find positives during his post-match news conference.

“Obviously, this one hurts,” he said. “There’s not so much to say right now. But again, I’m happy with how we’re trying to improve every day and put myself in these kinds of positions. It was a very high-level match, that’s for sure. I’m happy to be part of it. But yeah, the final result hurts.”

Sinner added: “Now it’s my time to take something from the close people I have. As I’ve always said, before my career started, I never wouldn’t imagined finding myself in this position. It wasn’t even a dream because it felt so far away – I wasn’t even thinking about it. Now, I find myself here, playing the longest final in the history of Roland-Garros. It hurts, yes, but on the other hand, you can’t go on crying.”

Back home, Gauff appears on NBC’s TODAY show

Less than 48 hours after Coco Gauff garnered her second career Grand Slam title by winning the French Open on Saturday, she was back in the U.S., making the rounds of morning “infotainment” shows. Appearing on NBC’s TODAY in New York City, Gauff said: “I always wanted to win this title. I just felt like this was one that was just really meant to be, and to have it happen still feels so surreal.”

It was the 21-year-old Gauff’s first major title victory since winning the US Open in 2023.

“The first one, I felt a little bit more shock immediately after the match,” she said. “This one I just really felt deep down like it was meant to be, that I wanted to do it, and I could do it. So I think this one was more just proud than relief.”

“What they wrote …”

“In a tournament that began with Nadal’s elaborate farewell ceremony and saw an emotional Djokovic admit he is unsure about whether he will return to Paris next year, Alcaraz and Sinner used the occasion to play one of the greatest grand slam finals of all time, affirming their status as leaders in this new era of men’s tennis to the world and setting the tone for what could be a decade at the top of the sport. These matches will make them better, the minuscule margins between them inspiring them to constantly improve and work on their games. Even as they tussle across borders and surfaces, their combined greatness will also help them to stay more than a step ahead of the rest.”

– Tumaini Carayol, writing for The Guardian, on “Alcaraz’s ridiculous victory over Sinner sets tone for next decade of rivalry at top of tennis.”

By the numbers

• Frenchwoman Lois Boisson, truly the surprise story of Roland-Garros, rocketed 296 places up the WTA Rankings following her Cinderella-like run at the French Open.

Boisson began the Parisian fortnight ranked 361st and entered Roland-Garros with a wild card. She advanced all the way to the semifinals of the clay-court major before losing to eventual-champion Coco Gauff of the United States in the semifinal round.

With the latest PIF WTA Rankings released Monday, Boisson is now ranked No. 65, making her the highest-ranked woman from France. She is one of just three Frenchwomen ranked in the Top 100, along with No. 92 Leolia Jeanjean and No. 97 Diane Parry.

• While there was no change among the Top 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings – No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany – 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic, who lost to Sinner in the French Open semifinals, moved up one spot to No. 5. Great Britain’s Jack Draper and Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, each moved up one position to No. 4 and No. 6 respectively. Tommy Paul of the United States jumped four places and climbed into the Top 10 at No. 8.

“Quotable …”

“Honestly, if people put our match on that table, it’s a huge honor for me. I don’t know if it is at the same level as those matches because those matches are the history of tennis and the history of the sport. So I let the people talk about it, if for them this match was almost the same.

“For me, watching from outside or realizing what that match is in the history of tennis, I don’t know if our match is on the same table as them. But I’m just happy to put our match and our names in the history of the Grand Slams, in the history of Roland-Garros. leave the discussion to the people.”

– Roland-Garros champion Carlos Alcaraz, during his champion’s news conference Sunday evening, comparing his five-set, five-hour 29-minute final to other great major finals such as Bjorn Borg’s 1980 Wimbledon Championships victory over John McEnroe and the 2008 Wimbledon final between in which Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer.

 

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