In his first Grand Slam final, at Australian Open 2024, Jannik Sinner recovered from two-sets-to-love down to complete a remarkable victory.
Eighteen months on at Roland Garros, the world No.1 experienced what it felt like to be on the other end of that scoreline.
Sinner lost in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz after five hour and 29 minutes, the longest Roland Garros final in history and the second-longest major final ever, after AO 2012.
It was a match he led by two-sets-to-love, where he went up an immediate break in the third, where he held three championship points then served for the match in fourth, and where he came within two points of victory in the fifth.
“Today I had chances… so many chances I couldn't use,” Sinner lamented after the 4-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(3) 7-6[10-2] defeat, a match being discussed as one of the great Grand Slam deciders.
“Of course, happy to deliver this kind of level. Happy about the tournament still. But obviously this one hurts.
“It's a very high-level match, that's for sure. So happy to be part of this. But yeah, the final result hurts.”
Sinner stormed into his first Roland Garros final without losing a set, and made it 20 sets in a row in Paris – and 31 straight at majors – when he won the first two against Alcaraz.
This was just his second tournament back after a three-month suspension relating to his 2024 doping case; a few weeks earlier he returned in Rome and reached the final, where he also lost to Alcaraz.
Notably, they marked the first ‘big’ claycourt finals of his career.
As the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion, Sinner had built a 20-match winning streak at the Grand Slams.
He was on the brink of joining Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as the only men in the Open era to win three consecutive majors.
“I was ready,” Sinner said.
“I was feeling much more ready than in Rome. I think we saw that. So thinking or seeing my level today, it has improved since Rome, which as I said before the match, was my main goal to see where my level is at.
“Making final, of course, difficult to accept now because I had lots of chances, but this is the good part of the sport. Also today it got me the sad part, no?
“If you watch only the sad part, you're never going to come back, no? I believe I have improved as a player since last year, which is good. So we try to keep pushing.”
After winning his first three Grand Slam finals – the aforementioned AO 2024 final, plus the 2025 AO and US Open trophies – this marked the first time Sinner tasted defeat in a major final.
His rival Alcaraz improved to 5-0 in his first five.
And the Spaniard is proving a thorn in his side; while Sinner has built a 91-3 record against the rest of the field since the beginning of 2024, he’s 0-5 against Alcaraz in the same span.
“We try to delete it somehow and take the positive and keep going. There are no other ways,” Sinner said.
“As I always said before my career started, I never would have thought to find myself in this position. Was not even a dream because it was so far and was not thinking about this.
“Now I find myself here, playing the longest match in history of Roland Garros in a final. It hurts this yes, but in other way you cannot keep going crying.”