Everything on that unforgettable June 8th on the legendary clay court was about the number five - five epic sets were played, and the battle on “Chatrie” lasted a little over five hours. And then Carlos Alcaraz in his fifth Grand Slam final, he won for the fifth time...
The guy who turned 22 on the fifth of May "embraced" the Musketeer Trophy at Roland Garros for the second time, so with two trophies at Wimbledon and one at the US Open, he is already one step away from the performance of, for example, the legendary Boris Becker i Stefan Edberg.
After Kasper Rud in New York, twice Novak Djokovic in London and Aleksandra Zvereva last year in Paris, Alcaraz was better than probably his biggest rival in the new Roland Garros final for years to come - Janika Siner (4:6, 6:7, 6:4, 7:6, 7:6).
Following in Federer's footsteps, 7:1 at the Masters
What a feat this is, perhaps best illustrated by the fact that only a great player had a better start to his career in the finals of the four biggest tournaments. Roger Federer who won the first seven matches for the cup, after which he was stopped in his eighth final Rafael Nadal - 2006 at Roland Garros.
Carlitos is not only good in Grand Slam finals, as he also shone in the title matches at the ATP Masters 1.000 series - he played eight of them, with a score of 7:1.
His only defeat came against Djokovic in 2023 in Cincinnati. Thus, the Spaniard has a score of 2:2 against the Serbian tennis player in the finals (because he was also defeated in the gold medal match at the Olympic Games), and 10:0 against all other tennis players.
Siner as "number 1" without a win over Alcaraz
The last two years have been like a dream for Janik Siner. The Italian has won the Australian Open twice and the US Open once, and has been number one on the ATP rankings for some time now.
However, since becoming world number one, he has never defeated his biggest rival and a year younger Alcaraz - to be exact, in his last five matches.
Their Roland Garros final was their first at the Grand Slams, and since March last year, Alcaraz has also triumphed in the semifinals of Indian Wells, Roland Garros (2024), and the finals of Beijing and Rome.
The last time the Italian enjoyed a head-to-head duel was in the capital of China - in 2023, when he triumphed in the semifinals. Alcaraz leads the table 8:4 in overall victories against his great rival.
Like Borg and Rafa, the ninth time from 0:2 to 2:3
At 22 years and 34 days, Alcaraz became the third youngest tennis player in history to win five Grand Slam titles - after Borg (22 years, five days) and Nadal (22 years, 33 days).
Incidentally, his victory over Siner in the Roland Garros final is the ninth 0-2 to 3-2 comeback in Grand Slam history. Interestingly, five of them have come in the last five years...
The new tennis era is heating up, and Alcaraz and Siner are its main protagonists - the Roland Garros final and five hours and 29 minutes will be remembered, but all of that is a harbinger of new spectacular duels.
Bonus video:
