The way the last week of the French Open has played out, it is making my decision earlier in the tournament to shut things down look a very good one.
Matches that have swung wildly are great for the fans, but not so much for the selections and it felt like a weird tournament just a few days into the event.
The last of the French Open matches will be played on Sunday before all attention turns to the relatively short grass court season and the build towards Wimbledon. It should be a really good Men's Final between two players who may be competing in many more Grand Slam Finals against one another over the coming years and I don't think anyone would be surprised if we see Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner going at it again either at Wimbledon or the US Open later this season.
Jannik Sinner-Carlos Alcaraz over 39.5 games: This is the Men's Final at Roland Garros that most would have wanted to see as the World Number 1 takes on the defending Champion.
In something of a surprise, we have not really had the Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz all that often at Grand Slam events, despite most of the fans believing this is the rivalry that will move forward at the end of the Big Four era.
This will be the fourth time the pair will meet at a Grand Slam and only the second time since the 2022 US Open, which again is a big, big surprise. The last time Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz met at a Grand Slam was right here in Paris twelve months ago as the latter got the better of the Italian in a five set Semi Final on his way to winning the title here.
Jannik Sinner may be the World Number 1, but he has lost eight of the twelve previous matches against Carlos Alcaraz- they had split the first four matches, but Alcaraz has begun to take control of the rivalry with four wins in a row, which includes beating Sinner at the Rome Masters last month.
That may give Carlos Alcaraz the mental advantage, although he is going to have to play with a little more consistency than he did in the Semi Final win over Lorenzo Musetti. He will need to serve well to try and move into control in the rallies, and Carlos Alcaraz can take some encouragement from the way Novak Djokovic was able to use his serve against Jannik Sinner in the Semi Final two days ago.
The Spaniard has been able to produce some decent serving numbers against Sinner in their previous matches, no matter the surface on which they have played, but it has not been a dominant shot. There are likely to be moments when the top Seed is able to get his teeth into the return games, which will not surprise anyone, but Sinner only created 2 Break Points in the match in Rome.
In that match, Jannik Sinner only faced 3 Break Points of his own, but was broken twice and he is going to need to get a bit more out of his serve. His numbers in this tournament have been decent, but Sinner has not been able to use his serve as he would have liked in matches against Carlos Alcaraz.
After saying all that, the overriding feeling is that this is going to be a competitive Men's Final and one that could go pretty long.
The last two Grand Slam matches between the players have both needed the fifth set to determine the winner and Carlos Alcaraz had to go five sets to win the French Open in 2024.
Backing a winner is tough, although the edge may be with the defending Champion.
The layers are finding it difficult to separate them, which is unsurprising, and the only disappointment for the fans is if the players are not able to both push this into a very competitive, long Final.
MY PICK: Jannik Sinner-Carlos Alcaraz Over 39.5 Games
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