Longest French Open singles final

On 8 June 2025, an epic French Open singles final starring Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) and Jannik Sinner (Italy) lasted for 5 hours 29 minutes. Played out in front of a boisterous crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier, it was Alcaraz who prevailed in the “Gen Z final”, defending his Roland Garros title 4–6, 6–7, 6–4, 7–6, 7–6 – but only after saving three match points in the fourth set and winning the tournament’s first-ever championship tie-break, 10 points to two. Individually, the strength-sapping sets lasted 65, 69, 50, 68 and 77 minutes.

In the long and storied history of Grand Slam tennis singles finals, only one match has lasted longer: the monumental 5-hour 53-minute Australian Open clash between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on 29 January 2012, won 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7, 7–5 by Djokovic. Like Sinner-Alcaraz, that match was contested by the two highest-ranked players in the world at the time.

The previous longest French Open singles final was played on 6 June 1982, when Mats Wilander – a summarizer for TNT Sports’ TV coverage of the 2025 final – defeated Guillermo Vilas 1–6, 7–6, 6–0, 6–4 in 4 hours 42 minutes.

Alcaraz, 22, claimed the fifth Grand Slam singles title of his career – from five finals played – at the 2025 French Open. Previously, he had won the 2022 US Open (vs Casper Ruud), Wimbledon in 2023–24 (both vs Djokovic) and, in another five-setter, Paris’ 2024 showpiece (vs Alexander Zverev).