2025 French Open – Men's singles final

The 2025 French Open Men's Singles final was the championship tennis match of the men's singles tournament at the 2025 French Open. A significant part of the Alcaraz–Sinner rivalry, it pitted top-ranked Jannik Sinner against second-ranked and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz for the first time in a major final. After 5 hours and 29 minutes of play, Alcaraz defeated Sinner 4–6, 6–7^(4–7), 6–4, 7–6^(7–3), 7–6^(10–2), in the longest French Open final in history and the second-longest major final, behind only the 2012 Australian Open men's singles final.^[1] It was the first time in French Open history that a match tiebreaker decided a singles final.^[2]

Alcaraz saved three championship points, the most in a men's major final in the Open Era,^[3] and overturned a two-set deficit to claim his fifth major.^[4] He became the third man in the Open Era to win a major after being championship points down, after Gastón Gaudio in the 2004 French Open final and Novak Djokovic in the 2019 Wimbledon final.^[5] Alcaraz's two-sets-to-love down comeback was the sixth time that such a comeback has occurred in a French Open final in the Open Era, after the finals in 1974, 1984, 1999, 2004, and 2021.^[6] The match also marked the first time that Alcaraz came back from two-sets-to-love down in his career.^[2]

Heading into the match, Sinner and Alcaraz were the top two-ranked players in the world. They had collectively won the previous five majors, and were each undefeated in career major finals (Alcaraz at 4–0 and Sinner at 3–0). This was their twelfth career meeting, but first in a major final. Alcaraz led their head-to-head 7–4, having won their four most recent encounters, the last at the 2025 Italian Open final. Alcaraz was also the defending champion at Roland-Garros and the leading clay-court player of the season, after titles at the Monte-Carlo and Rome Masters events.^[7] Conversely, Sinner, who was on a 20-match winning streak at majors, having won the preceding US Open and Australian Open titles,^[8] was playing only his second event following a three-month suspension, after reaching a case resolution agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency.^[9] Sinner's career-best finish at the French Open was a semifinal appearance the previous year, where he lost to Alcaraz in five sets.^[10]

Sinner reached the final without dropping a set, while Alcaraz played four four-set matches en route. Sinner held superior statistics if the match was shorter; Alcaraz, on the other hand, possessed a better record if the match became lengthy, with a 12–1 career record in fifth sets compared to Sinner's 0–6 record in matches lasting over three hours and 50 minutes.^[11]

Heading into the final, Sinner was seeking to win his first French Open title and achieve the third leg of potentials career Grand Slam and non-calendar Grand Slam, and to become the first man since Rafael Nadal at the 2020 French Open to win a major without dropping a set. Alcaraz was seeking to be the first man to defend a French Open title since Nadal in 2020, and to become the third-youngest man in the Open Era to win a fifth major title. Both were vying to keep their undefeated records in major finals.

The first set started out competitively, with the first game lasting ten minutes. Neither player was broken through the first four games, after which Alcaraz broke Sinner in the fifth game to take the lead. However, Sinner then broke back and held in the next game to take a 4–3 lead. After trading games, Sinner broke Alcaraz again in the last game to win 6–4, after a 62-minute set.^[12][13][14]

Sinner's domination continued into the second set, winning the first three games and having a stretch where he won 18 out of 24 points.^[13] After trading holds, Sinner opened up a 5–2 lead, having won nine out of the previous twelve games. At this point, Alcaraz stormed back, holding twice and breaking once to tie the set at 5–5. A trade of holds led the set to enter a tiebreaker, which Sinner won 7–4, thanks to pulling out to an early 6–2 lead.^[12]

Alcaraz had never won a match after being down two sets to love. But with this set, he found new life. After a trade of breaks to start, Alcaraz stormed out to a 4–1 lead. Sinner was able to hold the next two games he served and then break after that to make it 5–4, but Alcaraz pulled through in the final game to win the set 6–4. This ended Sinner's streak of 31 straight sets won at Grand Slam tournaments.^[12]

The fourth set began like the first, with both players holding through the first half, keeping the score at 3–3. Then, Sinner broke and then held to take a 5–3 lead.^[12] Sinner then pulled even further ahead to a 40–0 lead in the next game and was one point away from winning. It was at this point that Alcaraz began a serving spree, saving three championship points and in total winning the next 13 out of 14 points, taking the lead at 6–5.^[15] Sinner would finally be able to hold after that, forcing another tiebreaker. This time, it was Alcaraz's turn to go out on an early lead. From 2–2, he would end up winning five of the next six points to win the tie-breaker 7–3.^[12]

To start the final set, Alcaraz broke Sinner early for a 2–0 lead. Following this, neither player would be broken, but the score would end up at 5–3 to Alcaraz. Sinner would then hold the next game, and now with Alcaraz on the verge of winning while serving, would break him, only letting him score once. Sinner would then hold again to take the lead 6–5. After Alcaraz held the next game, the final set would end in a third and long tiebreak. Alcaraz immediately jumped out to a 7–0 lead. Sinner was able to win the next two points, but Alcaraz would win the final two to close and win the match.^[12] The final lasted five hours and twenty-nine minutes and ended with a score of 6–4, 7–6^(7–4), 4–6, 6–7^(3–7), 6–7^(2–10).^[14]

_Source:^[16][17]

Jonathan Jurejko of BBC Sport called Alcaraz's win "the finest performance of his career".^[18] It has been praised as one of the greatest matches in tennis history, as Steve Tignor of Tennis.com described it as "the match of the decade, and maybe the century",^[19] while Daniel Harris of The Guardian called it "one of the greatest finals ever played, in any sport".^[20] The match itself has also been described by some as finally closing the Big Three era of tennis.^[21]

Tim Henman, former British No. 1, stated that it was "one of the best, one of the greatest matches [he'd] ever seen."^[22] Alcaraz himself stated "this one was the most exciting match that [he'd] played so far, without a doubt."^[23] Former world number-ones Billie Jean King and Andy Roddick both opined that it was one of the greatest matches of all time.^[24][25]

• Alcaraz–Sinner rivalry

• Match details at the official ATP site
• Sinner-Alcaraz head-to-head at the official ATP site
• Match highlights on YouTube
• Full match on YouTube