Alcaraz 'enjoys the suffering' to outlast Sinner

In a clash as hyped as the Djokovic showdown of 2023, Alcaraz became the youngest man to reach Grand Slam finals on three surfaces.

His 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory was delivered in four hours and nine minutes.

“You have to find the joy in suffering,” Alcaraz said. “I think that's the key, even more on clay here in Roland-Garros, long rallies, four-hour matches, five sets, you have to fight, you have to suffer, but as I talked with my team many, many times, you have to enjoy suffering.”

In a showdown that featured the two preeminent names flying the flag for the future of men’s tennis, this was one of the most important of their careers to date, the first in which both walked on to court as Grand Slam champions.

Ahead of the pair’s ninth tour-level showdown, Alcaraz reiterated that his friend and on-court foe – less than nine months his senior – had raised the bar following his Grand Slam breakthrough at Melbourne Park in January, part of an impressive five months, which also landed titles in Rotterdam and Miami.

“Thanks to him, I push myself to be better, to be a better player,” Alcaraz said.

On Saturday, he was ultimately just that.

“I saw he was struggling a little bit but, yeah, I was cramping, Jannik as well in the third set,” he said.

“We had to fight. I learned from last year's match against Djokovic that I was in the same position like today, but I know that in this moment you have to be calm, you have to keep going because the cramp is going to go away and you have to stay there fighting, trying to make shorter the points.

“It was a little weird, let's say, the third set but I think the fourth set, the fifth set was... great tennis. I'm really happy about everything that I've done today, waiting for my moments until the last moment that I took it.”

The only time the pair have squared off this year Alcaraz snapped the Italian’s 16-match unbeaten start to the season in the Indian Wells semi-finals.

Both were considerably different players to their last clash at a major – a 2022 US Open quarter-final classic, in which Alcaraz prevailed under the lights after five hours and 15 minutes.

It was an ominous start from Alcaraz in the first Paris edition of the rivalry. Struggling to find his rhythm on a breezy, sunny Court Philippe-Chatrier, he had few answers to Sinner’s more consistent aggression and quickly surrendered a double break.

The third seed showed patches of brilliance and looked markedly more settled after he pegged back one of the breaks, but Sinner’s relentless retrieval skills and ability to make his opponent press for that bit extra lifted him to the set in 41 minutes.

From 0-2 down in the second, momentum had been particularly difficult for the Spaniard to harness until he prized open the set. His percentage of points won on first serves picked up from 44 per cent to 68 per cent between the opening two sets as he levelled the match after 92 minutes.

Having survived a 12-minute battle on serve, the Italian threaded a perfect return when he angled a backhand pass from deep in the corner on his way to 4-2 and opened a two-sets-to-one lead despite treatment for apparent cramps in his right hand and a second visit from the physio to have his legs massaged.

For the most part, it was a match in which neither summoned their best level simultaneously, but Alcaraz found more when it mattered to pull clear for his 10th five-set triumph from 11 contested. His 65 winners were 26 more than his opponent’s and his 58 unforced errors 14 more.

The Spaniard exorcised those demons of a year ago to set a title showdown against fourth seed Alexander Zverev or seventh seed Casper Ruud.

“The toughest match that I've played in my short career has been against Jannik,” Alcaraz said. “The US Open 2022, this one. That means the great player that Jannik is, the team that he has as well, the great work he puts in every day, I hope to play many, many more matches like this one against Jannik but yes, one of the toughest matches that I've played for sure.”