The rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner has begun

We can reconsider from different perspectives the Roland Garros final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. The italian said it will take some time to digest the defeat, to forget that 2-0 lead and those three match points wasted in the fourth set, where his undefeated streak in Slam finals was interrputed. On the other side of the net and beyond, there is the legendary feat of the Spaniard, who overturned and won his fifth major final, curiously at the exact same age (22 years, 1 month, 3 days) as Rafael Nadal’s fifth Slam title. And in a very Nadal-like manner: with a marathon that ended as if it were a 100-meter sprint, bringing out his best tennis after five hours of play.

The 2025 Roland Garros final is all of this, and much more for the spectacle offered on the court. The match has indeed already been entered into the history of the game, as widely celebrated by the media worldwide. The numbers and (non) precedents say it all: the longest final ever played in Paris (329 minutes), the first Slam final decided by a super tie-break, the ninth comeback from 0-2 down. And before all that, the tennis with which those numbers were filled. “Alcaraz pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in sports history,” wrote Tumaini Carayol in The Guardian, “in a crazy, out-of-this-world battle.” L’Équipe, the quintessential Parisian sports voice, gave the seal of approval: “a monumental match that enters the tennis pantheon.”

Marathon

The last best-of-five meeting between Sinner and Alcaraz was played on the same court twelve months earlier. And even then, in that semifinal, the Iberian prevailed in the fifth set. Encapsulated, a contrasting trend emerges for the two: Jannik, in his young career, has yet to write a happy ending to a four-or-more-hour match (zero wins and six losses); Carlos, on the other hand, has confirmed himself as the marathoner we know (ten wins and one loss): a natural wonder, with an increasingly long list of fifth sets as a player and athlete from another planet.

For Sinner, this is not a new topic, but on this occasion, after the forced break earlier this year, other reflections rightly find space. “I arrived ready,” he said in the press room after the final, “much more than in Rome, and I think it showed.” The fruits of his work off the court were not to be taken for granted, especially in the first months. Nevertheless, on the Paris clay, he reached the end with a flawless run of eighteen sets won and zero lost, including the 3-0 win over Djokovic in the semifinal. Sunday’s defeat, in short, leaves a bitter taste, but it is only Sinner’s first loss in a Slam final, after three wins; and it came against “the number two in the world, but on clay, the true number one,” as Jannik himself recalls.

The good news is that in recent days, at least at times, something akin to the best Sinner was seen again. And the first of many rematches will be played soon, of this we can be reasonably sure, looking at a ranking and a global scene dominated by two young men aged 23 and 22. Maybe they will meet again on the grass of Wimbledon next month, or on the American hard courts. We can relax, because in Paris only the first Slam final between the two was played, and it had all the air of chapter one of a generational rivalry.

Rivalry

The Sinner-Alcaraz clashes have their great cinematic element in the contrast, more than in the staging. It is not only a technical rivalry of the highest level, but also the opposition between two opposite languages: the imperturbable Sinner versus the fiery Alcaraz, emotional control against fierce competitiveness, and all the other countless differences running between the two. In how they live and stand in tennis, as well as how they play it.

“The level of this final was absolutely incredible,” said Mats Wilander (Eurosport), who won the Roland Garros three times in the 1980s. “Sinner and Alcaraz have taken this sport to another level, and I never thought I’d say that after the Big Three; but it’s an even faster game than before, a level hard to imagine.” His disbelief captures the current public perception: not only for Sunday’s match, but for all that could and should come next.

Because by now Alcaraz-Sinner is a rivalry with form, context, and narrative. And it is beginning to write its own epic: twelve meetings (8-4 for the Spaniard), increasingly important stages, and the increasingly clear impression that each brings out the best in the other. On every occasion, and in many more to come. It has been so for a lifetime between Federer and Nadal, and then with Djokovic, the Big Three. And if for years the benchmark for every conversation was that trio, and every hint at the next great rivalry seemed daring, this time words like those of Mats Wilander do not sound strange or forced. Yes, an era has begun.