The 2025 French Open could be a downward trend as the official starting point for a new era of men’s tennis. This will be the first meeting in the grand slam final between two dominant stars of the sport, Janik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
These two won the final five Grand Slam titles and scored a perfect 7-0 record in the Grand Slam Finals, but someone’s 0 must take place at Roland Garros on Sunday. Their path to the final showdown continued on Friday Alcaraz defeated his sinner compatriot Lorenzo Musetti in the first semi-finals. And the sinner kicked out the legendary Novak Djokovic in a straight set during the late evening (6-4, 7-5, 7-6(3)).
While the sinner was a bigger favourite than the veterans who entered the semi-finals, the Grand Slam Djokovic is always considered to be another beast and a litmus test for the superiority of the world’s first player. On Friday, Thinner passed that test in flying colours as the 24 major winner was simply overmatched by the 23-year-old star.
Once a dominant returnee, Djokovic was not in the way of the sinner’s reaction in his service game, so he gave a thin margin of razor for error. It was once stressful that Djokovic put opposition players down, but the 38-year-old found himself on the other side of the challenge on Friday and couldn’t come up with an answer. Thinner blew Djokovic into the serve and needed one break to shoot the opening set without any stress.
There was still a moment of glow from Djokovic. As we have come to expect over the years, he and Thinner held a show for the crowd of Philippe Chatelier.
But during these flashes there were too many errors from former top players in the world for the man who now holds that crown. Djokovic scored the first break of the match in the second set, but Thinner managed to beat Djokovic twice after holding his serve in the final game to score 7-5, placing himself on the cliff of the first French Open Final.
During the set, Djokovic took a medical timeout to get medical treatment on his feet, raising concerns that he might see a second medical retirement of the day, but when he returned to court he continued to put pressure on the offender and did his best to get him to work for his trip to the final.
However, for each question Jjokovic raised in the third set, Sinner found the answer. The world’s No. 1 fights back multiple breakpoints, including a 4-5 3, to stay on the set and eventually send it to a tiebreak. The sinner picked up a quick mini-break and rose 3-0, annoying Djokovic with his incredible court compensation, and the 38-year-old ultimately produced an error trying to finish the point. Thinner won a tiebreak 7-3, finishing with a straight set victory.
For Djokovic, it was his first straight defeat in a grand slam match when Wimbledon lost in three sets to Thomas Berdic in 2010. He clearly still has plenty of games, but he ultimately succumbed to the consistent pressures of the sinners and was unable to produce the great shots he needed to overcome the steady onslaught from the young Italian star.
Now Thinner looks for his first Grand Slam title on surfaces other than hardcoat, bringing him a step closer to his career Grand Slam. He already owns two Australian open titles, one open. To do this, he must overcome Alcaraz, who has been alone on his side since rising to the top of the world rankings.
The sinner has ruled everyone except Alkaraz for the past two years, winning the remainder of the ATP Tour and 91-3 since its inception in 2024. But he’s 0-4 against Alkaraz at that point. The two recently won the Italian Open Finals Clay Court Tournament with Alcaraz in straight sets.
The two have dominated the sport in the last two years, but this is their first meeting in the Grand Slam Finals, marking the first French Open Final, featuring the top two seeds in male draws since Djokovic and Rafael Nadal met in 2020. The French Open won the 2004.
