Carlos Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, has spoken about Alcaraz’s remarkable powers of recovery in the French Open final. Ferrero was speaking in the wake of Alcaraz’s astonishing win in Paris. The Spaniard overcame three championship points against him to outlast World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and defend his Coupe des Mousquetaires.
The match was the second-longest final in Grand Slam history, and the longest at Roland Garros. The key moment came in the fourth set, with Alcaraz 1-2 behind in sets, 3-5 behind in games, and 0-40 on his serve. Only two men, Novak Djokovic and Gaston Claudio, have recovered from championship point down to win a Major title in the history of the sport.
Tennis commentator and journalist Jose Morgado relayed Ferrero’s comments on his X account. Ferrero had coached the 22-year-old Alcaraz since he was 16, and stated that although he was not confident his charge could overcome the deficit, he knew the Spaniard had special qualities:
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"I'm not going to say that I was believing that he was able to recover from that 5-3, Love-40. But one more time with Carlos, everything is possible, and he did it again. Amazing achievement".
Alcaraz fought back to save the three break points and hold his serve. He then broke Sinner in the next service game, and won the set, going on to win the match after a final set tie-break.
Carlos Alcaraz's marathon win over Jannik Sinner recalled the 2012 Australian Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
The epic final played out by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner was the longest final in French Open history. The match took five hours and 29 minutes to complete. It was not the longest final in Major history, however. That accolade belongs to the 2012 Australian Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
That match lasted an astonishing five hours and 53 minutes, and was won by Djokovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. In his press conference after the match, as reported by TNT Sports.com, Alcaraz was quick to recognise the historic nature of his encounter with Sinner, and that the quality of the tennis on show was exceptional:
"This one was the most exciting matches that I've played so far, without a doubt. I mean, today I think the match had everything, really good moments, really bad moments. I’m just really, really happy. I'm proud about how I dealt with everything today. Today there were few moments of the match that, I mean, the level was insane."
Alcaraz and Sinner have now shared the last six Grand Slam titles. Comparisons are being drawn between them and Djokovic and Nadal, as well as the third recognised GOAT, Roger Federer.
