Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner showcase unsubtle art of never backing off in exhilarating French Open final

Critics will snap at the hyperbole of this analysis citing immediacy bias; they may have a point. Nostalgia pervades sport, comparisons are evident. But this century itself Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic have won 66 Majors between them and played their part in plenty of epics and comebacks too. After their first final, to conclude that another decade of this rivalry is to come may be a bit too strong.

But what is clear is that Sunday’s final was as captivating as any in recent memory. The two players’ searing level being a direct result of what has made them rise above everyone else in men’s tennis at the moment: how they have redrawn the lines of the baseline game.

They indeed play the same style from the back of the court as the vaunted ‘Big Three’, but how they vary is in their relentlessness in attack: their pace and weight of shot staying heavy on every ball. On defence, playing neutral balls in the form of blocks, moonballs, or slices is a long-time conventional tennis strategy. But Alcaraz and Sinner seamlessly turn defence into attack by hitting at full tilt all the time, no matter if they are pushed outside the court on the run or given a ball with no pace on it at all. They don’t buckle under pressure or get tentative, but play big even in the big moments.

“Tennis is not about defense anymore,” Alexander Zverev, the 28-year-old World No. 3 who has some experience in coming up short against these two, was quoted as saying by The Athletic in November last year. “It used to be a few years back, but I think those guys, 90 percent of the time they’re only playing offense. That’s the No. 1 thing. Not backing off, going for your shots in the most important moments.”

And what happens when the unfailing attacking qualities of these two players come together? On Sunday, in their first meeting in a Major final, the more casual sports observers were to be introduced to what exactly sets the two players apart in the modern era of attacking baseliners. As the match wore on, the drama and intensity increased, but so did the quality of play.

Power, accuracy, consistency

It was Alcaraz who was striking the heavier ball at the start, but it was Sinner who surged ahead, winning seven out of the eight games to take a set and a break lead. How he did that was not really locking in and taking control through his opponent’s errors, but instead making the Spaniard pay by raising his level and attacking.

Down 2-3 in the opener, he set up break-back point by ruthlessly pulverising a forehand return on the run. He broke back by stepping into the baseline to return and thundering a crosscourt backhand. He kept his own serve by mixing it up, finishing points quickly by flattening big serves and then finishing them at the net. Later, even though he had blown the opportunity to serve it out, he was the one who was composed in the second set tiebreaker.

Up 3-2 in the shootout, he took the mini-break expertly, dictating the terms from the baseline as both players powered the ball to each other before he scrambled Alcaraz’s feet with an angled, disguised, pinpoint forehand winner down-the-line.

Pinpoint accuracy 🎯#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/7ycD5zFXuk

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2025

Up set point, he had been sprayed all over the court by Alcaraz before he came up with yet another heavy crosscourt forehand on the run. With it, he went into an unassailable-looking two-set lead.

Slow-mounted comeback

Alcaraz was down but he felt no need to change his ways: go for broke or nothing at all.

After returning from a break down, he set up the opportunity for the lead and then constructed the point on his whim, taking the ball high and returned Sinner’s power with more power, zinging two forehands to bring him to the middle of the court and then powering a backhand down the line with such venom that Sinner could only net it. He grunted loud and cupped his ear as the crowd rose and he gained the 3-1 lead in the third; this is how he likes to win rallies, the belief was now there.

Alcaraz won the set but Sinner’s composure did not desert him, he went up a gear and methodically ground down his opponent with some of the best ball striking from the baseline he came up with all tournament, to go within touching distance of the title.

Over 3 hours in and this is the type of rally Sinner and Alcaraz are delivering 🤯#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/wl52EZGKUz

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2025

Alcaraz served well when he was down 3-5, 0-40 in the fourth, staring at three championship points. As he had always done, he did not merely hold on, but went for big shots and in turn, extracted three nervy errors from his rival. He won the next two points with an ace and an outrageous down-the-line forehand ripper. He swaggered back to his chair, with the crowd resolutely behind him, as if he were about to win, just as his opponent was about to serve for the trophy.

And so it would turn.

Once again, the Spaniard simply went for broke, smashing through his opponent’s defences with his massive forehand, hitting drop shots and a supreme backhand volley. He broke back, took it into a breaker where he was, in a turning of the tables, decisively more steady under pressure.

Captivating decider

The fifth set itself, in short bursts of high-stakes intense exchanges, produced more captivating tennis than most of this tournament. Both the players’ commitment to relentless hard-hitting attacking tennis, as well as their deft touch, received no better showcase even as the contest went into its sixth hour.

Alcaraz began to do again what he does to make Sinner struggle usually – he has won each of their last five matches. He mixed up the spins and depth of his groundstrokes to unsettle the Italian and followed it up with the finesse of drop shots, doing so with phenomenal guile on three points in the same service game to take a 3-1 lead.

The CLUTCH drop shot!#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/zM5CiYN9Hi

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2025

Creditably, despite the physical and mental pressure, Sinner’s responses were top tier, falling short in the short term as Alcaraz played lights out. But eventually it would.

At 4-5, up 30-15, he perhaps came up with the most significant get of his career, returning Alcaraz’s classic big forehand-plus-drop shot combination with a sensational backhand pickup to go up break point, this time Alcaraz failing to serve out the match.

JANNIK SINNER GIVING IT EVERYTHING 🗣️#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/VlnvzCxE1K

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2025

The level had gone up another gear, another twist beckoned as both of them displayed phenomenal strikes to hold serve from there – Alcaraz’s twisting forehand volley to a ferocious Sinner forehand, down 5-6, 0-30 in the fifth set, perhaps the shot of the tournament. It required one of them to step up immeasurably. And one of them would.

Perfection in the final stretch

As Alcaraz went up 7-0 in the first 10-point tiebreaker to ever decide a men’s Grand Slam final in the fifth set, the urge to describe it as a choke from Sinner must be shrugged; this was the Spaniard producing his finest tennis – attacking and positive to boot – when the pressure screws were tightened the most, no other seven-point cluster can describe what has led this precocious 21-year-old to five Majors.

Two crosscourt forehands were blasted to go into the lead. A deft drop shot was met with an inexplicable over-the-head, behind-the-shoulder forehand crosscourt volley on the run. A backhand down-the-line winner was found.

CARLOS YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/UBno0CjWRW

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2025

And finally, on match point, he passed Sinner with a running forehand down-the-line, lying flat on his back after defending his title in a titanic battle, sending the raucous Parisian crowd into raptures, and observers, critics, and former legends of the game into fits of excitement for the future of the game.