Tennis: 2025 Grand Slam - French Open
The men's singles final was a matchup between the No. 1 seed Sinner and the No. 2 seed Alcaraz. This was actually the first time the two have faced each other in a Grand Slam final. Every tennis fan has known for years that when these two play, they showcase a level of tennis that is out of this world, unlike anything else. It truly became the dream matchup that the whole world had been waiting for.
And I believe there is no doubt that this final will be remembered for a long time as one of the great matches in tennis history.
The legendary Borg-McEnroe tiebreak, the Federer-Nadal match that continued into the sunset, the grueling battle between Djokovic and Nadal that lasted six hours and left them unable to stand at the trophy ceremony... there is no doubt that this match will join the ranks of such historic classics.
It was, in any case, a tremendous match. It is definitely the best match I have watched in the last few years. I am just so happy that I was able to watch it live until the very end.
Early in the match, the momentum was with Alcaraz. His combination of high-bouncing spin and sharp, powerful shots was working well, and he broke serve early in the first set. However, from there, Sinner regained his natural pace.
Even so, how accurate, quick, and powerful Sinner's tennis is. He is not intimidated at all by Alcaraz's incredible power, and as long as he can reach the ball, he returns everything with a full swing. Alcaraz might be slightly faster at top speed, but in terms of the rally average, Sinner is faster and makes fewer mistakes.
I think that is closely related to his compact take-back.
A characteristic of Sinner's forehand is that during the take-back, the hitting face clearly points toward the back fence. This is because he doesn't pull his whole arm back significantly, but rather twists his arm leading from the elbow and then snaps it back, which accelerates the racket head very effectively in a short amount of time.
His arm doesn't move that much; the twisting and returning of the arm happen naturally in a relaxed state, linked to the rotation of his body, and only the racket head accelerates rapidly to hit the ball.
That is why his contact point doesn't go off. He has a swing that combines accuracy with flexible responsiveness (his backhand also features a movement where he snaps his left hand back using his right hand as a fulcrum, which shares commonalities with his forehand technique).
Sinner's incredibly accurate and powerful strokes began to repel Alcaraz's onslaught. Gradually, control of the rallies shifted to Sinner, and while it was a close contest, he firmly closed out the important points to take the first set.
Entering the second set, the situation didn't change much, and the momentum remained with Sinner as he took a 3-0 lead. Although Alcaraz fought with pride to force a tiebreak, Sinner displayed not only his offense but also a defensive ability that now seems even better than Djokovic's, and he took the second set as well. He was now two sets up.
At this point, in the minds of many spectators,
“Sinner might just win this in straight sets.”
…I imagine that thought must have crossed their minds.
Alcaraz's tennis was by no means bad. He was playing with the same tenacity and offensive power he showed in Rome, but honestly, my impression was that he couldn't find an effective way to counter Sinner, who was as accurate as an AI, and that he would just be pushed further into a corner.
However, in the third set.
In a difficult situation where he was broken in his first service game, Alcaraz began to enter 'the zone' from there... It made me feel the unfathomable depth of his ability, and from this point on, a dramatic match unfolded.
The limit of concentration. I could clearly see that he had entered a state that could be called selflessness, and he shifted into an even higher gear.
This is the kind of ability that past Grand Slam champions possessed. The way they transform pressure into focus in the most desperate, down-to-the-wire moments, and continue to attack silently, guided only by instinct.
The audience, moved by Alcaraz's earnest and desperate struggle, began to cheer louder and louder, and before anyone knew it, the score was 4-1 in Alcaraz's favor. After a back-and-forth battle, he managed to take a set from Sinner, who had reached the final having won every match in the tournament in straight sets.
And the real match—it started from here.
It was a true deadlock. As I mentioned at the beginning, the incredible speed and tactical maneuvering that can only be seen when these two play, and finally, the series of eye-opening aces. It was truly a wonderful performance!!
Because Sinner is confident in the quality of his own ball, he actually doesn't aim for the lines very often. That is one of the reasons that supports his stable match play. Even against Djokovic, he bases his game on balls that bounce near the service line, blowing his opponent away with sheer force. And only when a soft ball comes does he aim slightly closer to the line.
Even so, he has the stroke power to hit a no-touch ace against Djokovic while aiming more than a meter inside the sideline. To win in straight sets against the GOAT, Djokovic, using a safe strategy... he is truly on a different level. That is Sinner.
But he judged that he couldn't compete against Alcaraz with that safe strategy, so he was hitting shot after shot aiming for tight corners, something you don't see in his other matches.
Even though Sinner could usually win an ace if he hit two crisp shots with his feet planted, Alcaraz displayed incredible defensive ability, not only returning those ace-level shots, but also waiting for the slightest opening to move around and unleash his lethal forehand.
In that kind of flow, the fourth set was a battle of holds until the middle, but in Alcaraz's service game at 4-5, he finally faced a break point. This break point was a championship point. He was on the edge of a cliff, just one point away from defeat. Moreover, he was pushed into a situation with triple match points, but... Alcaraz entered a state of selflessness here as well, sticking to his guns where he needed to, and attacking without hesitation whenever the slightest chance appeared, as if striking at a momentary lapse. The drop shots that hadn't been landing started to land brilliantly, and he miraculously won five points in a row to hold his service game!
With that momentum, he won the fourth set, which had gone into a tiebreak, and survived from the brink of defeat. He brought it to two sets all.
And then, the final set.
Even though it was the middle of the night (or rather, early morning), I found myself shouting out loud lol
I mean... I can't put that into words. It was packed with all the charm of tennis. Desperately chasing the ball, earnestly hanging in there, reading each other's courses, countering an attack only to have it countered back, and then countering that again—this kind of extreme rally, as I've said many times, is something only these two can do.
"Hey, don't you think we're playing the tennis of the future?"
"Yeah! I was thinking the same thing!"
These were the words exchanged by the two while shaking hands after their match, I believe it was in the fourth round of the US Open a few years ago, and it was exactly right. This isn't the tennis we've known. The tennis of the future is here. I could only watch the match in a trance, moved by that fact...
And the final set also reached 6-6. It went into a 10-point tiebreak, but Alcaraz suddenly won seven points in a row to close out the match.
After a great comeback from two sets down, and a great battle that went into a final set tiebreak, he successfully defended his French Open title.
Sinner's strength was undoubtedly overwhelming.
He even had three match points. But in the end, Alcaraz won.
It might be due to the difference in physical endurance.
It doesn't show against other players, but in the extreme rallies against Alcaraz, I felt that Alcaraz had more stamina in reserve.
And having made a great comeback victory from this adversity, Alcaraz will likely regain much of the confidence he had been losing over the past two years and grow even more as a player.
It was a truly wonderful match.
Matches that make you feel happy just watching them don't come around very often. I went to bed thinking, 'Tennis is truly fascinating...' lol