Photo credit: Julien De Rosa/AFP/Getty
By Alix Ramsay
And that is why we love Carlos Alcaraz.
For a set and half, he looked down and out; for three points in the fourth set, he was toast as Jannik Sinner held three Championship points. And then, in his inimitable, muscular, flamboyant way and after five hours and 29 minutes, he kept his hands on the Coupe des Mousquetaires 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
It was the longest final in Roland Garros history and almost every minute of it was riveting. Those who moan about best-of-five set matches being too long should go back and watch this one. That will change their minds – and if it doesn’t then they need follow another sport.
Before we go any further, we must give credit where credit is due. Forget your statisticians, your number crunchers and your venerable pundits; if you want a decent factoid, ask Marcus Buckland.
He is one of the voices of Radio Roland Garros and Radio Wimbledon and an excellent broadcaster. He may have spent many a Paris commentating shift promoting his new book (of which a mention later) but we can forgive him that.
Throughout the final commentary, he kept banging on about a little detail that he had uncovered: Sinner had never won a match that ran longer than three hours and 48 minutes. So often did he mention this that his fellow commentators were mocking him mercilessly. To be fair, they were not alone: the listeners were sending in waves of jokes at Marcus’s expense.
And then we got to three hours and 43 minutes; Sinner had his match points. By the time he had missed them all and Alcaraz had held for 4-5, the clock had ticked on to three hours and 47 minutes.
If Marcus and his factoid were correct, Sinner had less than 60 seconds to hold serve if he was going to win this title. But he couldn’t do it then and couldn’t do it in the remaining 101 minutes. Blimey: Marcus was right.
It was a final that many are already calling one of the greatest ever. It had so many ebbs and flows, such contrasts of style and so many displays of sportsmanship (close calls given to the opponent no matter how big the point) – you simply could not take your eyes off it. And even in the fifth set when at times Sinner was looking weary, both mentally and physically, the result was still sitting delicately in the balance until the final tiebreak.
Alcaraz began on the attack, pushing Sinner in every service game until he got the first break after 37 minutes. Immediately, Sinner broke back. As he took away Alcaraz’s lead, he took away the Spaniard’s bounce and confidence. He was sucking the life out of the champion.
The normally ultra-positive 22-year-old defending champion looked glum and downbeat. His body language was awful and he was chuntering away to his team at the far end of the court. This was not like him.
Sinner was now at his relentless, soul-crushing best. When he plays lights out, he is like a computer game: no shot misses the mark; the serve is fast and laser-guided, the forehand is lethal and the backhand is titanium-clad. And computers never lose.
But computers don’t have to play Alcaraz when he is defending the Roland Garros title. Even before those three match points, there had been little signs that there was a little more spark in Alcaraz’s demeanour. He might not have been playing as he wished but he was doing his best to fight.
And then we hit Marcus’s marker and Alcaraz was taking charge. He played a clean fourth set tiebreak. He broke in the first game of the fifth. He hung on when Sinner (now walking stiffly and slowly between points) tried to make a fight of it. And then he clung on by his fingernails when Sinner, who had found his fourth, fifth or possibly sixth wind, started clattering the ball again.
The Italian leapt on a tentative Alcaraz service game as the champion served for the title. Two games later, Alcaraz was serving to stay in the match and Sinner battered him again. The world No.1 was two points from victory. Alcaraz was not having that; he would not let him pass. And then the champion clutched his title to his chest by running away with the match tiebreak.
Alcaraz had won his fifth grand slam trophy in his fifth grand slam final. He is only 22. With Sinner, who is only 23, pushing him every step of the way in events like this, we are in for a hell of a rivalry between these two in the coming years.
And we end with a final word on Marcus: his book, “Roger Taylor, The Man Who Saved Wimbledon” is out at the end of this month and is available in all reputable bookshops. And, knowing Marcus, probably a few that aren’t. And he hasn’t even offered me a fiver to mention this.