Carlos Alcaraz said he always believed he could come back to meet under two sets and save three match points.
In a thrilling final, the 22-year-old ran 5-3, 0-40, 0-40 in four sets, but recovered to win his fifth Grand Slam title after five hours and 29 minutes.
“The match won’t end until he wins the final point,” Alcaraz said at his postmatch press conference. “Many times people came back from match points in the Grand Slam finals or in the finals of other matches, they just wanted to save match points in the Grand Slam Finals and become one of the players who ended up winning.
“I always believed. Even those match points, I never doubted myself. Just one point at a time, just one point, try saving that game and continuing to believe. That’s what I thought.”
Alcaraz is the eighth man in the open era to successfully defend the Roland Garros title and is the first man to save a match point and win a Grand Slam final since Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2019.
This is the first time Alcaraz has come from two sets to win a match in nine attempts. He is now 5-0 in the slam finals, expanding his head-to-head advantage over sinners to 8-4.
Alcaraz’s comeback followed his first French open title and the entire fourth Grand Slam title, winning the first two sets, and seemed unlikely as a broken sinner in the third early stages.
Alcaraz screamed in the crowd, including actor Dustin Hoffman, filmmaker Spike Lee and many sports heroes, and hit to take the third, but again looked over the match when Thinner had three match points 0-40 in Alcaraz’s serve in the fourth ninth match.
However, the Spaniards dug out the hole to take the set on a tiebreak, and after having his fifth early lead slip, they rebounded for the victory, tallying by deciding the set’s tiebreak to 12-2.
“You have to keep fighting when the situation is against you,” Alkaraz said. “It’s the final of the Grand Slam. There’s no time to tire you out. There’s no time to give up. It’s time to keep fighting.
“When dealing with that pressure in the best possible way, I think the real champions are made in (these) situations. That’s what the real champions did throughout their entire career. I’m just trying to feel comfortable in a situation of pressure, and I’m not afraid of that.”
Alkaraz is exactly the same age (22 years old, 1 month, 3 days) when his compatriot Rafael Nadal won his fifth Grand Slam title. Nadal was one of the first people to congratulate Alcalaz on social media, with Billy Jean King and the Real Madrid football team joining him.
“To be honest, I’m going to say that it’s fate, by the coincidence of winning my fifth Grand Slam at the same age as Rafa Nadal,” Alkaraz said with a laugh. “It’s my intention to keep for me forever and to win the fifth Grand Slam at the same time as Rafa, my idol, my inspiration. It’s honestly a great honor.
Alcalaz coach Juan Carlos Ferrero told a news conference that the comeback is even more noteworthy than when he saved match points with a quarter-final victory over the criminal when he scored his first major at the 2022 US Open.
“I’m not saying I believed he could recover from that 5-3, Love 40,” he said. “But once more with Carlos, everything was possible and he did it again. An astonishing achievement (ment).”
Thinner peeled her shell at the end of the match. “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping very well tonight,” he said during the trophy presentation.
“I’m still happy with the tournament,” he said at a press conference. “But obviously this hurts.
“This is a very high level match, and I’m sure. I’m happy to be in this, but yeah, the end result is painful.
“We had a chance today. We parted ways in the third. We parted ways in the fourth. We had three match points. We went out to the match. We came back. We had a chance in the fifth.