The Keys to Carlos Alcaraz's Monumental Triumph

Carlos Alcaraz returned to the throne of Roland Garros after defeating Jannik Sinner this Sunday in an epic final that will go down in tennis history. After 5 hours and 29 minutes of a titanic battle, where he had to recover from two sets down and save three match points against him, the Murcian tennis player secured a victory that combined class and resilience to achieve one of the greatest feats ever seen in the sport of tennis. The monumental triumph achieved against his great generational rival establishes the Spaniard as one of the great stars of world sport and places him in the footsteps of the legends who have shaped tennis history.

With his victory over Sinner, Alcaraz maintains his infallibility in the Grand Slam finals he has contested. The Murcian has claimed victory in all five he has faced to date. A legend that began to be carved three years ago when he defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-3 in the match that allowed him to lift the 2022 US Open. A year after that formidable victory on hard courts, the Spaniard conquered his first Wimbledon by defeating Serbian Novak Djokovic at the All England Tennis Club 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. In 2024, he would have his best year to date, claiming his first Roland Garros trophy after overcoming German Alexander Zverev in the final 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 and shortly after lifting his second Wimbledon by defeating Djokovic again in the decisive match 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4). On Sunday, he completed the quintet of successes by dethroning Sinner 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) with an immense display. He thus becomes the only player in history to have won 100% of Grand Slam finals with a minimum of five contested.

At 22 years, 1 month, and 3 days old, Carlos Alcaraz became the fifth youngest player in the Open Era to contest five Grand Slam finals, only behind Swedes Mats Wilander and Björn Borg, Spaniard Rafa Nadal, and German Boris Becker. He achieved this with only 17 appearances in such tournaments, achieving a success rate that matches that of Australian Rod Laver and American John McEnroe at that stage, only bettered by Björn Borg thanks to the six titles the Swede lifted in his first 17 participations, according to Opta data.

Moreover, the Spaniard became the fourth player in the Open Era to win at least one Grand Slam title in four consecutive years, after the unforgettable Big-3 of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, and Novak Djokovic achieved it.

To better dimension the feat materialized on Sunday against Sinner, it is worth noting that it was the first time in his career that Alcaraz managed to come back from two sets down, after 307 matches played by the Murcian between ATP tournaments, Olympic Games, and Davis Cup. And only two players before him had managed to claim victory in a Grand Slam final in the Open Era after saving match points against: Argentine Gastón Gaudio, who did so to snatch victory from his compatriot Guillermo Coria in the 2004 Roland Garros edition, and Serbian Novak Djokovic, who did the same to defeat Swiss Roger Federer at Wimbledon 2019.

It so happens that Carlos Alcaraz won his fifth Grand Slam title at exactly the same age as his great idol and the mirror he has looked into since his earliest childhood, Rafa Nadal. The Manacor native, who by then already had four trophies as Roland Garros champion, lifted his first Wimbledon title in 2008 at 22 years, 1 month, and 3 days. Alcaraz achieved the quintet in the Balearic's favourite playground, a Philippe Chatrier where the Murcian reigned for the second time on Sunday, also at 22 years, 1 month, and 3 days, to enrich a record that also includes two Wimbledon trophies and one US Open.

Nadal, who won 22, is already the only Spanish tennis player to have won more Grand Slam titles than Alcaraz, who with his triumph on Sunday in Paris over Sinner left behind the four amassed by Manolo Santana. The Madrid native won the US Open in 1965, Wimbledon in 1966, and Roland Garros in 1961 and 1964, being, along with Alcaraz and Sergi Bruguera, one of the three Spaniards to have championed twice in Paris. Above them is Nadal and his impressive fourteen titles of the Parisian 'major'.

Only Nadal, who did it ten times, and Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, who achieved it in 2001, had been able to retain the throne in Paris in this century before Alcaraz achieved it on Sunday with his epic victory over Sinner. That is not, by any means, the only record in which Alcaraz follows in Nadal's footsteps, whose absolute reign on clay has found a worthy heir in the Murcian. Alcaraz reached his hundredth victory on clay in this edition of Roland Garros after defeating Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals, after 119 matches played on that surface. Only Nadal needed fewer matches (112) to establish the first hundred wins on clay than Alcaraz.

On clay, Alcaraz has won eleven of the twenty ATP titles he holds, surpassing the ten held on that surface by Austrian Dominic Thiem. Only twelve players have won more trophies on clay in the Open Era than the Murcian. The victory over Sinner in the Roland Garros final put the finishing touch to the exceptional clay court tour completed by Carlos Alcaraz, author of 22 wins and only one loss in the 23 matches he has played on this surface throughout 2025. Excluding 2020, when he only played two matches on this surface, it has been his year with the fewest losses. Moreover, the four titles he has lifted so far this season (Rotterdam, Monte Carlo, Rome, and Roland Garros) already match the number with which he completed the previous year.

Those twenty ATP tournament trophies that Alcaraz can boast are the same with which another illustrious player, Carlos Moyá, ended his career and place the player from El Palmar as the sixth Spanish tennis player with the most titles in the circuit throughout history. Ahead of him are only Rafa Nadal (92), Manolo Santana (73), Andrés Gimeno (44), Manuel Orantes (34), and David Ferrer (27).