Carlos Alcaraz believes the fact he and Spanish idol Rafael Nadal were both exactly the same age when they won their fifth grand slam title is tennis “destiny”.
Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner in one of the greatest ever grand slam finals to win his second French Open, winning the title aged 22 years, one month and three days.
It is exactly the same age Nadal was when the Spaniard won his fifth grand slam by defeating Roger Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final, another of the sport’s greatest ever matches.
“Honestly the coincidence of winning my fifth grand slam in the same age as Rafa Nadal, I’m going to say that’s destiny, I guess,” Alcaraz said.
“I mean, it is a stat that I’m going to keep for me forever, winning the fifth grand slam at the same time as Rafa, my idol, my inspirations.
“It’s a huge honor honestly. You know, hopefully it’s not going to stop like this.”
Alcaraz’s win over Sinner will instantly go into the record book after the Spaniard saved three championship points before winning in five hours and 29 minutes – the longest French Open final of all time.
But he said that he will leave it up to the public to decide where his win over the World No 1 Sinner would rank among the best matches ever seen when compared to classics like Federer-Nadal and Borg-McEnroe.
“If people put our match in that table, it’s a huge honour for me,” Alcaraz said. “I don’t know if it is at the same level as those matches because those matches are know, the history of tennis and the history of the sport.
“I don’t know if our match is in the same table as them. But just happy to put our match and our names in the history of the grand slams, in the history of Roland Garros.”
