The New Yorker:

In Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the sport has not only its next great rivalry but a moment that highlights everything the sport can be.

By Louisa Thomas

For years, many Grand Slam finals became, spontaneously, an event. When Rafael Nadal played Roger Federer, or Federer faced Novak Djokovic, or Djokovic took on Andy Murray, and the games stretched into sets, and sets into hours, and morning on the East Coast turned to afternoon, word would spread. Something was happening, something not to be missed—something precious because it was both rare and recognizable, not least because it kept happening. But then Federer retired, and Murray and Nadalacceded to the inevitable, and there was only Djokovic, chasing his own shadow. The sport, in the United States at least, became something smaller, more niche. But, on a Sunday in early June, tennis was happening again.

There, in the 2025 French Open final, was the No. 1 player in the world facing the No. 2. An orderly Italian known for his precision and Alpine reserve against a passionate Spaniard. A machine of suffocating reliability against a creative, unpredictable genius. As Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz played deep into the fourth and fifth sets, word spread, just as it used to. Social media lit up. TVs turned on. Texts flew. Even the most hard-core fans, the ones who know how little separates the good from the great, who see brilliant tennis played in an ordinary second round at a smaller event in Metz, struggled to put what they were witnessing into context. Was it the best match since Federer had played Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final? Was it better than that? The quality of shotmaking only increased as the pressure went up and up, and time passed, and the reserves depleted. Late in the fourth set, after Alcaraz had already saved three match points, and throughout the fifth, they nailed quick-twitch volleys, raced to drop shots that were dead on the bounce, flung forehands on the run, obliterated the distinction between offense and defense. Finally, the pyrotechnics reached a grand finale, as Alcaraz raced to a 7–0 lead in the fifth-set tiebreak and finally won the match with a sprinting forehand down the line. Alcaraz’s tennis during that bout was more than impressive; it was euphoric. And the match had the same old magic, the quality of something new.

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