Insanity! Was this the greatest tennis match of all?
Alex de Minaur called it "insanity", Andre Agassi shook his head in disbelief from the VIP seats and Mats Wilander felt they were playing at a "not human" level. Other luminaries simply swooned it was the best tennis match they'd ever seen.
Indeed, Carlos Alcaraz's 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-2) triumph over Jannik Sinner in the longest and perhaps best of all French Open finals was so astonishing that even the Spanish champ himself was asked where it belonged in the list of the greatest contests the sport had ever witnessed.
Modestly suggesting it wasn't as good as the Novak Djokovic-Rafael Nadal Australian Open epic in 2012 - which at five hours 53 minutes was the only final to last longer than Sunday's 5:29 marathon - Alcaraz, who saved three match points before prevailing, said he was just proud it was being mentioned as one of the finest of all.
"I don't know if our match is in the same table as them," he said when asked how it compared with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer's final of 2008 and the Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe 1980 epics, both at Wimbledon.
"But just happy to put our match and our names in the history of the grand slams, in the history of Roland Garros. I leave the discussion to the people..."
Well, the tennis people were awed.
"The level of this whole match was insanity!!!!! What a day to be a fan of this beautiful sport," enthused Australia's main man de Minaur on X as he reflected on a contest between the two men he's played a combined 14 times and not yet managed a win.
This was a day to see why. Four-time grand slam champ Jim Courier, commentating on TNT Sport, echoed 'Demon's' incredulity as he said: "It's insane how good this is. Everybody's in disbelief at what they're seeing."
"One of the best 5th sets ever alongside Federer vs Nadal '08 Wimbledon + Djok vs Nadal AO 2012," tweeted former US Open champ Marin Cilic.
"Unbelievable level."
Sergi Bruguera, Spain's two-time French Open champ, told Alcaraz it had been the best match he'd ever witnessed, a view echoed by Greg Rusedski, Britain's former US Open finalist, who declared on BBC radio: "For me, personally, this goes down as the greatest tennis match I've ever seen.
"The standard was just exceptional. It's just incredible how hard these guys hit the ball."
So incredible indeed that seven-time grand slam single champ John McEnroe, talking on TNT Sport, wondered if the pair might even have eclipsed the king of clay, 14-time Roland Garros champ Rafa Nadal, here.
"It was an honour to witness. I've been doing this 30 years, that's one of the all-timers easily," said McEnroe.
"You would make a serious argument with both guys that they would be favoured to beat Nadal, at his best.
"Do I think they're gonna reach 20, 24 (titles), either one of them? No, because that plateau is so hard - but these two guys right now, it's like when you watch the NBA and you say nobody could be better than Michael Jordan. The tennis level right now is higher than I've ever seen."
Three-time Australian Open champ Wilander was left marvelling: "I cannot believe how lucky we are that we are going to have this rivalry as they have taken our sport to another level.
"I've seen Federer and Nadal, they played a couple of good finals but nothing comes close to this one to me.
"Because the anticipation was so high, especially from my side because I witnessed their matches and I always think that this is not possible, they are playing at a pace that is not human."
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