Carlos Alcaraz now has his first Roland Garros title.
He needed five sets to overcome Alexander Zverev with scores of 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, and 6-2.
He managed to turn the score around and leave his name on the list of French Grand Slam champions.
Rafael Nadal already has his heir, who leaves his mark on the clay of the Philippe Chatrier to become the tenth Spaniard to win the title in Paris.
Björn Borg, six-time champion of the tournament, handed him the Cup that certifies him as the Roland Garros champion.
At 21 years and 35 days old, he is the youngest player in history to have three Grand Slams on the three surfaces of the game, following his titles at the 2022 US Open (hard court) and 2023 Wimbledon (grass).
Nadal held the previous record, at 22 years and 7 months.
In the ranking of the most decorated Spanish players, Carlos is now in the ninth position, tied with Sergi Bruguera and Alberto Berasategui.
Ahead of him are Rafael Nadal, Manuel Orantes, David Ferrer, Carlos Moyá, Álex Corretja, José Higueras, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Emilio Sánchez Vicario.
8 of Alcaraz’s 14 trophies have been won on clay.
Zverev did not start well. Two consecutive double faults and a racket change to lose the service. Unheard of in a final.
Nerves also cost Alcaraz a double fault and his serve (1-1). But Zverev made even more mistakes.
A double break of the German’s serve gave Alcaraz the first set. The world number 4’s serve was not working and, without that weapon (64 aces in the tournament), his tennis loses a lot.
In the second set, Zverev missed three break points at the start.
The German managed to break Alcaraz’s serve (3-2) and that advantage made him start to believe in his chances.
He improved his serve, both in percentage (77% first serves) and speed (not dropping below 200 km/h). He won five games in a row to make a new break that gave him the second set.
After three and a half hours, a new match started, with one set to go.
Zverev started with the advantage of serving first. It didn’t last long. Two volley errors, a double fault, and a missed backhand cost him the break (1-1).
Zverev tried to recover, seeing a 0-40 slip away, with a more conservative game that extended to 10 minutes until Alcaraz won it.