By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, June 8, 2025
Photo credit: Sandra Ruhaut-Icon-Getty
World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz is the world’s most creative player.
Staring down three championship points today, Alcaraz created a comeback for the ages.
A defiant Alcaraz conjured the greatest comeback in Roland Garros history out-dueling world No. 1 Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) to successfully defend his Roland Garros title in a dazzling and epic final.
The longest French Open final in history was a five hour, 29-minute thrill ride that saw Alcaraz improve to 5-0 lifetime in Grand Slam finals, while Sinner suffered his first major final defeat. Alcaraz is the first man in French Open final history to save three championship points and capture the championship.
Afterward, former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s long-time coach, conceded he wasn’t anticipating Alcaraz was about to pull off the comeback of the century while sitting in the box.
“I’m not going to say that I was believing that he was able to recover from that 5-3, Love-40,” Ferrero told the media in Paris. “But one more time with Carlos, everything is possible, and he did it again. Amazing achieve[ment].”
Former French Open champion Ferrero said Alcaraz’s super power is unceasing self belief.
In fact, the coach shared Alcaraz pumped his own box up waving his racquet toward Ferrero after fending off championship points while serving down love-40, 3-5 in the fourth set.
“Yeah, I think his strength is keep believing all the time until the last ball is gone,” Ferrero said. “And he try and try. It was a thing he was Love-40 in the fourth, this 5-3, and he look at me and still make me like this with the racquet [shakes racquet], like saying, I’m still here, saying vamos.”
Indeed, showing strength and stamina, Alcaraz raised his five-set record to 13-1, including a 4-0 mark in five-setters.
Alcaraz credits his “second father”, former French Open champion Ferrero, for helping him achieve his major dreams.
“Everything that I have done is thanks to him,” Alcaraz said of Ferrero. “I learned a lot from him not only in the professional part, even the personal part as well. He’s my second father, so he is really important person for me.
“Everything that I’ve came through at the beginning, he was experienced in that moment, you know, and I learned about how to deal in a lot of tough moments, you know, and first things about everything.”
In today’s frenetic fifth set, Ferrero said Alcaraz’s courage to keep firing away proved pivotal.
This is everything. 🥹 Carlos Alcaraz and Juan Carlos Ferrero. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/IiWT19jamR
— Carlos Alcaraz Style (@alcarazcloset) June 8, 2025
Truly a team victory 🤩#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/vSVzZxgoRW
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 8, 2025
The all-court shotmaker’s guts to go for it and live and die with the consequences is a quality that cannot be taught, said Ferrero.
“Of course I think he born to play these kind of moments,” Ferrero said. “Every time that we stay in these situations, even when he was younger in the challengers, in the 250, in the 500, when he had the big opportunities for him at that ages, he always went for it.
“In this kind of situation of course it’s so much more important than maybe other tournaments. But his style of game again I think has to be the same.
“It’s something we try to prepare his mind for these kind of situations, like maybe the tiebreak at the fifth set. He went for it since the first point. Very brave all the time and very aggressive trying to win the point all the time.”
