KING CARLOS: Carlos Alcaraz conquers Jannik Sinner in a classic at the French Open final

If you are in Paris and someone says “Voulez-Vous,” understand it as a question if you want something or seek something. In the theatre called Roland Garros where many contests have been contested on the brick-red clay for decades, champions have emerged after hard battles. Yet, what one witnessed on Sunday night was truly mind blowing. Perhaps, someone had innocently asked Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz the question, “Voulez-Vous.” Well, if you had watched the contest which resembled two gladiators in an old Roman amphitheatre battling each other in a gut for glory contest, Carlos Alcaraz came out firing to flatten Jannik Sinner and retain the French Open trophy.

Great writers used lucid prose to describe the theatre that sports is, no matter what the field of play be, football, tennis, hockey, swimming. Tennis on clay is pulsating, long-drawn, and yet riveting. If there had to be a contest to decide who was the Alpha Male, Alcaraz versus Sinner had all the ingredients. Two young men, superbly fit, gifted and blessed with everything you need to succeed on a tennis court went hammer and tong at each other.

The debates on television and podcasts, live, were matched by the chatter on social media as well as the official French Open radio channel on the app. Adjectives fell short as emotions peaked, plateaued and then again rose. Ah, tennis, you beauty, what a contest you treated the global audience watching across time zones on Sunday evening, as King Carlos out-gutted Jannik Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (10-2) to retain his strong hold om the French Open trophy. For the record, the battle lasted 5 hours and 29 minutes.

Like a Hercule Poirot thriller there were twists and turns. Like a fiction movie where the hero is the underdog, Carlos was reeling under a two-set loss. Even the veritable BBC had put out a post, Carlos had never won a Grand Slam after being down 0-2 sets. Well, Carlos Alcaraz was not on his cell phone reading all this.

He knew one thing, to beat Sinner, he had to produce something much more than extra. In fact, he had to be brilliant like an artist on the canvas, producing bold and beautiful strokes which results in a masterpiece. No cliché, what Carlos produced in terms of tapestry of tennis made this definitely one of the greatest French Open finals in the history of Roland Garros at one of the poshest suburbs in Paris.

Forget the violence which rocked Paris just a week back. Forget whatever is going on at large in society in Paris and France and the rest of Europe. Inside the perimeters of the tennis court where the white lines defined boundaries within which winners had to be belted and the players had to run, slide and retrieve, Carlos versus Jannik was a delight to watch. Forget the tennis strokes, for sheer variety in terms of technique, possession of something to go for the kill, Jannik Sinner looked massive in the first two sets. He looks lean, in fact, when compared to Carlos, more bulked up.

But then, as the match wore on, there were three strengths which were needed, physical, mental and emotional. King Carlos knows, he is being touted repeatedly as the successor to a man who got a fitting farewell for his exploits of winning 14 Majors at the French Open, Rafael Nadal. If tennis teaches fans to move on from one champion to the other, well, Carlos Alcaraz is the fresh face with an abundance of energy and enthusiasm. When he won the French Open in 2024, he wanted to add one more tattoo, the Eiffel Tower. Frankly speaking, Carlos has left his imprint on clay and Paris so emphatically, the ‘Voulez-Vous’ question won’t be asked now.

Maybe, someone from an older generation will relate to the number belted out by ABBA in the 70s, when Voulez-Vous was a rage. Carlos is much younger, but to win his fifth Grand Slam at 23, he looks far more impressive than more youngsters. To trip Sinner was not easy. After all, if you sift through tennis data which is available in Gigabytes on the computer systems, Sinner has a perfect game. Or so, we were made to believe.

Yet, when someone like Carlos comes out smoking with weapons and guile from being a couple of match points down, it shows a champion mindset. Forget the match stats, forget what the bookmakers said. For those who have access to ‘match odds’ even casually on betting apps, though illegal in India, Sinner was being touted as the winner. Well, odds are just a phrase. In tennis, where performance is not defined by just the forehand or the backhand, it is also about the winning mentality.

In the end, Carlos Alcaraz resembled a Wild West hero Clint Eastwood who would smoke out the rest of the gangsters in the end. No disrespect to Sinner, who is still being probed on social media on his quick three-moth dope ban, he fell short on Sunday night. This was El Classico, where the Italian blew his chances. The experts who lend a voice like Chris Evert proclaimed the trophy should have been shared. Someone like Patrick McEnroe said, this was the greatest final ever at the French Open.

I will reserve any such comment, since the very definition of ‘best-ever’ cannot be defined at large. We have seen King Carlos (Moya) win in Paris, we have seen Rafa win here and many more from the wooden racquet era produce brilliant tennis. Yes, Carlos Alcaraz looks set to win more and more. Champion with a smile and athleticism which leaves you watching in awe!