Carlos Alcaraz became the ninth player to win a Grand Chelem final after being led two sets to zero.
The feat achieved by Carlos Alcaraz is still difficult to achieve the day after his victory in the Roland-Garros final. After 5:29 am combat against Jannik Sinner, three saved match balls, the Spaniard overthrowed the world number one to (already) awarded his second great Parisian home and thus realize the double. Last year, he had already beaten Sinner in five sets, after being led two sets to one in the semi-finals before winning against Zverev in the final. The comeback achieved this Sunday is not the first in the final of a Grand Chelem tournament. Alcaraz has become the ninth player to do so in history.
Roland-Garros, land of withdrawn
In Paris, five men before Alcaraz managed to overthrow the situation after being led two rounds to nothing. The first is called Björn Borg. The Swedish legend had succeeded in winning in 1974 against Manuel Orants. The Spaniard led 2-6, 6-7 (4), but Borg had finally taken the best in five sets without too much discussion possible on the following three rounds (2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-1, 6-1). Borg won in 74 the first of his six successes Porte d’Auteuil. 10 years later, the scenario reproduced with Ivan Lendl. Faced with John McENROE, the American naturalized Czechoslovak in 1992 overthrows the American (3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5). Then, it was Agassi, the last player of the 20th century to achieve this performance in Paris in 1999. Against a surprise guest named Andreï Medvedev, the American is jostled but puts the records on time to win (1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4). More recently, it was Gaston Gaudio who spilled Guillermo Coria (0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6) during Roland-Garros 2004. The duel of Argentines turned in favor of Gaudio, the least experienced, who had saved a match ball before winning. Finally, it was Novak Djokovic against Stefanos Tsitsipas (6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4) in 2021 which had succeeded in the unthinkable.
Medvedev not successful
Apart from Roland-Garros, other players shone in the Grand Chelem final after being led two sets to zero. A player is also quoted twice, but in the loser’s camp. In 2022, Daniil Medvedev bowed against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final (2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5). Two years later, it was still in Melbourne that he suffered this terrible disillusionment, this time against Jannik Sinner (3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3). For the only big home won in his career, Dominic Thiem marked the spirits since he overthrew the situation against Alexander Zverev in 2020 during the US Open (2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6)).
In addition to Alcaraz in 2025 and Gaudio in 2004 who saved a match ball or more in the final before winning, Novak Djokovic also experienced this spell in Wimbledon in 2019 against Roger Federer. Except that in this match, the Swiss did not lead two sets to zero. The Serb ended up winning 13-12 in the fifth set at the end of a legendary match (7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3)).
