Jannik Sinner on Sunday was in touching distance from the coveted French Open silverware. In the fourth set he had brought up three match points; however, he was unable to convert any of them. That allowed Carlos Alcaraz to unexpectedly get back into the game and push the match into a deciding set. Alcaraz was a break up in the final set before conceding the advantage. The match was finally decided in a final set super tiebreak where Alcaraz won it 10-2. The final score read 4-6 6-7 6-4 7-6 7-6(10-2).
This wasn’t the first time Jannik Sinner has squandered a 2-0 sets advantage in a Grand Slam match. He previously experienced this at Wimbledon in 2022, where he lost against Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. The score back then read 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2. Djokovic went on to win the title, beating Nick Kyrgios in the final. Jannik Sinner explained to the media in his post match conference how the match against Djokovic was different to the final and the memories it brought back. (Quotes via WeLoveTennis, translation from Google.)
“It’s different. I was at a different point in my career. It helped me a lot to see how quickly things can change. But when Novak raised his level that day, I felt like I didn’t stand a chance. You know, it was different. Today, I had chances. I was behind in the third set. I was behind in the fourth. I had three match points. I was serving for the match. I came back. At 6–5, I also had chances in the fifth set. So I had so many chances that I didn’t know how to take it. There are days like that. There’s really nothing we can do. So it was a different game.”
The Italian explained that back then the quality of his tennis wasn’t where it is today. When Djokovic began to attack he felt clueless. However the difference in the final was that when Alcaraz began to attack, Sinner still managed to create chances for himself. All he could not do is make most of those chances. He mentioned how he brought up match points despite being behind in the game at times. Fans would love a rematch between Sinner and Alcaraz at the upcoming Wimbledon, and we wait to see whether the Italian can bounce back stronger after this defeat.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images
