Alcaraz stages a glorious comeback to win Roland Garros
Carlos Alcaraz Garfia showed the more than 15,000 spectators at the Philippe-Chatrier main court in Paris that hope is the last thing to be lost. With everything against him after almost four hours of play, the Murcia-born tennis player summoned up his courage and scored four consecutive points that changed the course of the match, and perhaps the destiny of his career, which ended up being the longest final in the history of Roland Garros: 5 hours and 29 minutes.
At 22 years, 1 month and 3 days old, the Murcian was able to come back from two sets down (something he had never achieved in his career) and three match points in the fourth set to defend his Paris crown and win his fifth Grand Slam title with an unforgettable score of 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3) and 7-6(2).
Opposite him was the world number one in the ATP rankings: Jannik Sinner. The Italian tennis player, true to his style, started the match in unbeatable form, stringing together great serves and countering those of the Murcian with corner shots that even the best in history could not respond to.
When we talk about Sinner, we are not talking about just another tennis player, but about an athlete who, in the last 100 matches he has played, has only lost eight: three against other players and five against Carlos Alcaraz, curiously, the only five matches they have played against each other.
With a first set full of winning shots, the Italian tennis player managed to break the Spaniard's serve in the fifth game and take the first set in just 1 hour and 5 minutes. During the second set, the Spanish player started to struggle after losing three consecutive games, but finally managed to take the set to a tiebreak, where the Italian player won, taking a 2-0 lead and being one set away from glory.
With everything against him, Alcaraz faced the third set needing to win to stay alive in the final. After several breaks of serve, the Spanish player managed to come back and win his first set of the match, with a final game worthy of his level, leaving the number 1 player with zero points and allowing the player from El Palmar to show off his entire repertoire, which allowed him to string together a series of winning shots that left Sinner with nothing but applause.
The exhibition was worthy of the tournament, and after 3 hours and 4 minutes, the fourth set began, where once again, the Murcian tennis player found himself between a rock and a hard place. After an even start where neither player was clearly ahead, at 3 hours and 35 minutes into the match, Alcaraz faced the most difficult situation of his career: coming back from three championship points for Sinner.
They say that in the face of great adversity, talent always shines through, and Alcaraz showed courage and determination, just as his idol Rafael Nadal has done on 14 occasions, ‘that finals are there to be won’.
After a game that no tennis fan will ever forget, Alcaraz faced the last two games of the set with a self-confidence that culminated in a tiebreak, the second of the match, which levelled the match after 4 hours and 12 minutes of play. Finally, in the fifth and final set, the final went down in history as the longest final in the history of the tournament, surpassing the 4 hours and 42 minutes of the 1982 final between Wilander and Vilas.
However, neither fatigue nor exhaustion took their toll on Sinner and Alcaraz, who, defying physics, ran faster and hit the ball harder, showing the whole world that you should never give up.
After more than five hours of play, both players were tied at six games, so a third tiebreak had to be played, although this time it was more special as it was a ‘super tiebreak’ in which the first player to reach 10 points or a two-point lead, in the event of a 9-9 score, would win.
In it, Alcaraz played his best tennis. Sinner had no chance. The Murcian tennis player won all three points on his serve, all three break points against the Italian and the first point on his serve, putting him 7-0 up. The entire court knew how it was going to end, as demonstrated by the photographers who descended en masse to the front rows to get the best shot.
And, 10 minutes later, the prediction of everyone present came true after Alcaraz scored a masterful point in the style of his idol Rafael Nadal. Exhausted, Alcaraz fell to the ground at the Philippe-Chatrier court, aware that history would never forget every shot of that match.
However, the victory against Sinner will not be enough for Alcaraz to become world number one in the ATP rankings and he will have to wait and see what happens in the other major tennis tournament, Wimbledon, where he will also be the defending champion after defeating Novak Djokovic in last year's final.
They say there are no coincidences. Just like Nadal, Alcaraz won his fifth Grand Slam title at the same age as the Mallorcan tennis player, and, as luck would have it, on the side of the court where two weeks ago, at the start of the tournament, the former Spanish tennis player was honoured with a plaque bearing his name and footprint.
It may all be a mere coincidence or a twist of fate, but in two such parallel lives, only time will tell if Nadal and Alcaraz will share a place in history on the centre court of one of the world's most important sporting competitions.
