Comeback Kings and Princes - Five epic Grand Slam finals

Carlos Alcaraz’s win over Jannik Sinner in the French Open final is the 24th time in men’s tennis that the eventual winner bounced back from two sets down to lift a Major trophy. It’s only the eighth such instance in the Open era, 1968 onward, and six of them have now come on the famous ‘terre battue’ of Paris. A look at five such epic Grand Slam finals…

Phenom unleashes his range

2022 Australian Open | Rafael Nadal bt Daniil Medvedev 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 (5): Returning from surgery, Nadal had no business playing at Melbourne Park, let alone reaching the final. With Federer semi-retired and Novak Djokovic deported after disobeying Covid protocols, Nadal had a chance to move ahead of Federer on Major title count. He employed his full repertoire of shots to bamboozle Medvedev.

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‘One that got away’

1984 French Open | Ivan Lendl bt John McEnroe 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 (5): World No. 1 McEnroe came into the final on a 42-match winning streak. Lendl had lost to McEnroe in their last four clashes and had lost all his four Major finals until then. McEnroe took the first two sets with authority but in the third game of the third set, noise from a cameraman’s earpiece set him off and in his fury, he dropped his serve. Momentum shifted in Lendl’s favour, who held his nerve.

Vegas kid finds salvation

1999 French Open | Andre Agassi bt Andrei Medvedev 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 (5): Agassi had lost two finals here, to Andres Gomez in 1990 and Jim Courier in 1991. Medvedev was ranked 100 but had a strong clay-court game and had beaten Pete Sampras and Gustav Kuerten on way to the final. He even won the first two sets, winning 100% of his first serve points. Then came the rain. When play resumed, Agassi found his rhythm and became the first man to win four Slams on three different surfaces.




Mentalist hears voice within

2021 French Open | Novak Djokovic bt Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 (5): Down two sets to nil, Novak took a lengthy toilet break. He says he heard two voices in his head: one told him it was over, the other he could still pull it off. He returned, produced sublime tennis in the following three sets for his 2nd French title, second career Slam.

A non-Big 3 champion
2020 US Open | Dominic Thiem bt Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6): Played during the pandemic to empty galleries, the win from two sets, 3-5 down made Thiem the second Austrian after Thomas Muster (1995 French Open) to become a Major winner. Federer was injured, Nadal had opted out, Djokovic defaulted in Rd 4 and Thiem and Zverev both failed to serve it out for the title in the deciding set. It was the first US Open men’s singles final to be decided by a fifth-set tiebreak.


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