A little over two years ago, Roger Federer decided to hang up his racquet. Last August, Andy Murray quit the sport after the Paris Olympics. Later the same year, Rafael Nadal decided that his tired body had had enough. And a couple of days ago, Novak Djokovic hinted that he might have just played his last match at Roland Garros, only adding to the disappointment of the legion of global tennis fans mourning these departures. 

Marathon match

On Sunday, however, Italian Jannik Sinner, 23, and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 22, replaced this disappointment from most faces with a smile, if not for a shock-and-awe expression, given their five-hour, 29-minute masterclass in the French Open final. And at the end of the longest final in Roland Garros history it hardly mattered to most tennis purists who emerged as the winner, because amidst those deceptively accurate groundstrokes and looping returns was a clear message — the future of men’s tennis has found its flag-bearers. 

Alcaraz eventually emerged triumphant, beating Sinner after a fifth-set 10-point tie-break 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2) to successfully defend his French Open title.