Sinner and Alcaraz are the top two seeds at Roland Garros.
Carlos Alcaraz sent out a message to the rest of the Roland Garros playing field on Sunday. The Spaniard delivered a near-perfect performance to oust top seed Jannik Sinner 7-6(5) 6-1 in the final of the 2025 Italian Open in Rome. In the process, Alcaraz managed to break a record by capturing every major clay court trophy that exists. According to former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, this is exactly what both players needed before heading to the second major of the year.
Alcaraz and Sinner started strong, and remained steadfast on serve in the opening set. As we approached a nail-biting finish, the 23-year-old Italian brought up two break and set points on the Alcaraz serve at 6-5. However, he squandered both of these, and the four-time Grand Slam champion subsequently won the tiebreaker. In the second set, Alcaraz ran away with the match – applying constant pressure on Sinner’s second serve and preventing him from unleashing the lethal forehands.
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Having been out of action for three months, Jannik Sinner made a return to the ATP Tour at his home tournament in Rome. Despite a lot of questions being raised about his level, the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion answered the doubters in dismissive fashion. He notched some noteworthy victories against the likes of Francisco Cerúndolo, Casper Ruud and Tommy Paul – producing some lights out tennis along the way.
On the other hand, Carlos Alcaraz did what Carlos Alcaraz does. And according to 2003 US Open winner Roddick, this was the perfect ending. “At the beginning of the week, if you had said to Carlos, ‘Hey you’re going to win this tournament and take out Sinner,’ that’s a 12/10. If you would have told Sinner, ‘You’re going to play great tennis, beat Casper Ruud 0 and 1, and lose to Carlos,’ he would’ve taken that 10/10 times.”
“So this is what needed to happen for both of them,” he continued. Roddick, who believes that Sinner needs to make minor tweaks to his partially one-dimensional approach, lauded Alcaraz for his multi-faceted style of play. “The threat of options that he [Alcaraz] has seemingly keeps Sinner off-beat. [If] Sinner knows what’s coming, he’s going to beat you. If Sinner doesn’t know what’s coming, you’ve got a shot like Alcaraz.”
As Roland Garros gets ever-so-close, a huge title retention campaign is on the cards for ‘Carlitos’. The 22-year-old has given himself a great shot at the title again, courtesy of a phenomenal build-up to the major competition. He kicked things off at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he defeated the likes of Cerundolo, Fils and Musetti en route to the championship at the Principality.
Alcaraz then travelled to the Catalonian capital of Barcelona – where he achieved another run to the final. After beating de Minaur in the quarterfinals and Fils in the semis, the World No. 2 tasted defeat at the hands of Danish prodigy Holger Rune. Experiencing some discomfort after the tournament, Alcaraz withdrew from the Mutua Madrid Masters, before becoming the King of the Eternal City.
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With a 2025 clay court ATP record of 15-1, Carlos Alcaraz is a firm favourite at the Roland Garros Grand Slam. Tune in post May 25th for an action-packed fortnight.
