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It took 5 1/2 hours, but on Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz won the French Open for the second straight year. Alcaraz bested Jannik Sinner in a grueling, thrilling match after a stunning comeback, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2).
Alcaraz earned the win after dropping the first two sets, defeating Sinner after five sets and three tiebreaks. The wild matchup pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds against one another in what is sure to become an instant classic.
The loss ends Sinner's run of two straight Grand Slam titles after he won the 2024 US Open and the 2025 Australian Open.
"I'm pretty sure you're going to be a champion, not once, but many many times," Alcaraz said of Sinner after the match. "It's a privilege to share the court with you in every tournament, making history with you."
Sinner, who had an early lead, failed to capitalize on three championship points in the fourth set before Alcaraz forced a deciding set. In the fifth set, it was Sinner who completed the unlikely comeback from a break down to force a third tiebreak.
In the end, it was Alcaraz who came away with the trophy. The young Spaniard defeated Sinner 10-2 in the fifth set tiebreak to win his fifth Grand Slam title. At age 22, he becomes the third-youngest man to win five major titles, trailing only Bjorn Borg and Rafael Nadal.
As the more than five-hour match wore on — the longest in Roland-Garros history and the third-longest men's finals match in the Open Era — Sinner grew visibly fatigued, while Alcaraz stayed in control of the matchup. But both seemed to get a second in the final set, with it all leading up to the thrilling ending.
Alcaraz, who is famous for his ability to win marathon contests, is now 13-1 in five-set matches. Sinner, meanwhile, moves to 0-7 in matches that go past the four-hour mark.
The two traded games throughout the first set, before Sinner broke through to take the 6-4 win. In the second set, the young Italian got off to a strong start, going up 4-1. Alcaraz got on a roll to eventually tie Sinner at 5-5. Sinner then took the next game, but Alcaraz held on for an uncontested service game to force a tiebreak, which Sinner eventually won with some difficulty.
The third set was all Alcaraz to start. He had briefly lost the goodwill of the crowd before pulling them right back in with multiple excellent points. Though Sinner launched a late comeback of his own to keep the set alive, Alcaraz held on for a 6-4 win in a sequence that mirrored the first set.
In the fourth set, things stayed as tight as ever. Alcaraz seemed to have a slight advantage early before Sinner came back for a late surge. However, with Sinner up 5-3 in the set and 40-0 in the game with three shots at winning the tournament, Alcaraz fought back to win the game and, eventually, the set.
Sinner looked fatigued at the start of the deciding set, as Alcaraz quickly broke the Italian's serve to take the upper hand. But Sinner managed to get a second wind, breaking back late in the set to force yet another tiebreak.
And in the end, Alcaraz was victorious after a dominant tiebreaker victory.
