Greatest tennis matches of all time: Which encounters join Alcaraz-Sinner in the list after stunning Roland-Garros final

Few sports provide such regular, consistent drama than Tennis does, and fans have been fortunate to witness some of all-time greats compete during the same era, especially in the period where the ‘Big Three’ ruled the game.

Its unique scoring system allows for twists and turns and riveting drama, and that has played out in front of our eyes numerous times over the decades.

A new match has been added to the hall of fame too, with Carlos Alcaraz’s dramatic French Open final win over Jannik Sinner set to go down in folklore, with the first final played between two players born in the 2000s shows that the sport is in safe hands for many years to come.

Here, Sports Mole looks back at the greatest matches in the history of the sport.

8: Goran Ivanisevic bt Patrick Rafter (Wimbledon Final 2001, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7)

In a rare Monday final, moved due to incessant rain delays throughout the week, unseeded wildcard Ivanisevic overcame three previous Wimbledon final defeats to finally break the glass ceiling to clinch the illustrious golden trophy in one of the sport’s most heartwarming stories.

Ranked 125th in the world after injury setbacks in the months prior, Ivanisevic was given a wildcard into the main draw, and beat fourth-seed Marat Safin as well as home favourite sixth-seed Tim Henman to reach the final.

In a marathon encounter, Ivanisevic got the better of his Australian opponent in five sets, with the latter needing 16 games to find a winner, and the Croat remains the only wildcard to win a Grand Slam in the Open Era.

7: Carlos Alcaraz bt Novak Djokovic (Wimbledon Final 2023, 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4)

After two decades of domination from the Big Three and Andy Murray, the 2023 final represented a changing of the guard at Wimbledon, as Alcaraz won his first title at SW19.

The Spaniard was the first player not part of the Big Three or Murray to win Wimbledon since Lleyton Hewitt 21 years earlier, and he did so despite losing the first set 6-1 to a rampant Djokovic.

After winning a second-set tiebreak though, Alcaraz broke the Serb three times in the third, and he would go on to win in five sets, becoming the third-youngest winner after Boris Becker and Bjorn Borg, while also ending Djokovic’s 45-game winning streak on Centre Court.

6: Rafael Nadal bt Daniil Medvedev (Australian Open Final 2022, 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5)

Finishing after 1am local time, few Grand Slam finals have ever lasted as long as Nadal’s dramatic come-from-behind victory over Medvedev in Melbourne at the Australian Open in 2022.

Clocking at five hours and 24 minutes, this final remains the third-longest in Grand Slam history, and it ended Nadal’s 13-year wait for a title Down Under, becoming the first man in the Open Era to win after going two sets down at the AO.

Nadal’s grit and determination was evident despite being at the stage of his career where he was plagued with injuries, and this success took him onto 21 major titles, which at the time, moved him outright on his own at the top.

5: Novak Djokovic bt Rafael Nadal (Australian Open Final 2012, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5)

The longest final in the history of Grand Slam tennis came during the 2012 Australian Open, when Djokovic got the better of Nadal in Melbourne in what remains one of highest-level tennis matches ever played.

After five hours and 53 minutes of power, finesse and class from both players, Djokovic came out on top, clinching his win at 1:37am local time, in what was the longest match in both players’ respective careers, and remarkably for the Serb, came two days after a five-hour, five-setter in the semis versus Murray.

It was the only final where Nadal lost after winning the first set, and it marked a third straight Grand Slam where the Spaniard lost to Djokovic in the final, and despite losing, Nadal says it is still his best memory from playing at the AO.

4: Novak Djokovic bt Roger Federer (Wimbledon Final 2019, 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12)

The longest ever Wimbledon final saw Djokovic and Federer lock horns in a real war of attrition, which created history as the first Grand Slam final to be decided by a fifth-set tiebreak.

Federer beat Djokovic in every statistic apart from fewest unforced errors, and became the first man in over 70 years to lose a Wimbledon final after having Championship points (at 8-7 in the fifth), in what was ultimately his final major final, and one of the most bitterly disappointing.

The Swiss legend was 37, and the oldest finalist at SW19 for 45 years, but Djokovic proved his class, and the more youthful legs may have had a slight impact in the Serb getting over the line in the deciding tiebreak.

3: Carlos Alcaraz bt Jannik Sinner (French Open 2025, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6)

In the post-Big Three era, tennis’s youngest stars have had huge shoes to fill, but both still in their early 20s, Alcaraz and Sinner have already played out one of the all-time finals, that can be placed on a pedestal with some of the greats between Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.

After not dropping a set in the entire tournament, it looked ominous when Sinner raced into a two-set lead, and even though Alcaraz won the third, he was 0-40 down when serving to stay in the match, but he saved all three championship points, broke Sinner, and then forced a fifth set, where he won in a Champions tiebreak.

There is no doubting it is the greatest final ever witnessed at Roland-Garros, and it has become the second longest of all time across the four Slams, cementing Alcaraz’s status as a great of the game already, winning all five of his first major finals, joining Federer as the only other man to do so, while also winning that fifth at the exact same age his Spanish compatrior Nadal did early in his career.

2: Bjorn Borg bt John McEnroe (Wimbledon Final 1980, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6)

A match so great they made a film about it, Borg’s win over McEnroe in 1980 is undeniably the greatest from an era that really saw tennis explode as a prominent sport globally.

What made this matchup so fascinating was the polar opposite personas on either side of the net, as the cool, calm and collected baseline player Borg came up against the bad-tempered, loud, controversial serve-and-volleyer McEnroe.

McEnroe was not initially popular with the London crowd, but his never-say-die attitude that saw him save seven Championship points (five of which came during a 34-point tiebreak in the fourth set) endeared him the fans, despite losing 8-6 in another thrilling final set, as Borg continued his utter domination of Wimbledon, with a fifth straight title.

1: Rafael Nadal bt Roger Federer (Wimbledon Final 2008, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7)

While there is some debate, there cannot be anybody who argues against this thriller topping the list of tennis’s greatest ever match, as two of the best ever to do it, playing at the top of their game, mixed in with delays, and a dramatic finish in the dark, means Nadal’s maiden Wimbledon win tops our list.

After leading by two sets, Nadal had two Championship points in a fourth-set tiebreak, in which he led 5-2, but he would lose it 10-8, and many may have thought his chances were done, playing against the King of Centre Court.

It was 9:15pm when Nadal kept his nerve to hold serve after breaking Federer in the fifth set, ending the Swiss’s 65-match winning streak on grass, and breaking his monopoly that had seen him with the previous five titles, with the Spaniard winning his first title at SW19.

Written by
Andrew Delaney