Jannik Sinner made a huge statement about where Carlos Alcaraz stands after his incredible triumph in the French Open final. The young Spaniard produced the comeback of all comebacks to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He battled back from two sets down to secure a historic 4-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 7-6 triumph against the odds.
It came after Sinner spurned three championship points in the fourth set, which gave Alcaraz the momentum he needed to win. A fifth-set tiebreak was required to separate the two players after five hours and 29 minutes of incredible tennis. It was the second-longest Grand Slam final in the Open era and will almost certainly go down as the greatest French Open final in history.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Sinner paid Alcaraz the ultimate compliment by putting him on the same level as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“I think every rivalry is different, no? Back in the days, they played a little bit different tennis,” said the Italian. “Now, you know, the ball is going fast. It’s very physical. It’s slightly different from my point of view, but you cannot compare.
“I was lucky enough to play against Novak, against Rafa. In Grand Slams, Roger [Federer] I never played, unfortunately. Beating these guys, it takes a lot. I have the same feeling with Carlos and some other players.
“It’s good to see that we can produce also tennis like this, because I think it’s good for the whole movement of tennis and the crowd. It was a good atmosphere today, no, and also to be part of it, it’s very special.
“Of course, I’m happy to be part of this. I would be even more happy if I would have here the big trophy. But, yeah, as I said, you can’t change it now.”
The last time Sinner lost a match after winning the first two sets came against Djokovic at Wimbledon three years ago. On that occasion, the Serb prevailed in the quarter-finals before going on to win the tournament.
“It’s different, I was in a different moment of my career,” said Sinner. “It helped me very much to see how things can change quickly. But when Novak raised that level that day, I felt that I had no chance. You know, it was different.
“Today I had chances. I was a break up in the third, was a break up in the fourth, was three match points. Serving for the match. Came back. 6-5, I had chances also in the fifth. So I had so many chances I couldn’t use.
“Sometimes you have these days like you have. You can’t really do anything now, so it was a different match.”