Jannik Sinner remained optimistic despite a painful defeat in the French Open final against Carlos Alcaraz.

The top seed won the first two sets but ended up on the wrong side of an enthralling match, which finished 4-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-2) in favour of Alcaraz.

The match lasted a total of five hours and 29 minutes, the second-longest grand slam final after Novak Djokovic's encounter with Rafael Nadal at the 2012 Australian Open (five hours and 53 minutes).

Sinner (23 years and 282 days) became the youngest player to reach three consecutive men's singles grand slam finals since Pete Sampras (22 years and 158 days), between Wimbledon in 1993 and the Australian Open in 1994.

But, he is also the first player in the Open Era to win the first 20 sets of a men's singles grand slam event and not win the title.

Sinner had three championship points in the fourth set but failed to capitalise on them, and the Italian said he was happy with the tournament, but the final left him hurting.

"I'm happy to be part of this. Would be even more happy if I would have here the big trophy. But you can't change it now," said Sinner.

"Of course, happy to deliver this kind of level. Happy about the tournament still. But obviously, this one hurts.

Jannik, you should be so proud 

Such an incredible talent, you played beautifully and there is so much more to come #rolandgarros #sinner pic.twitter.com/fx32vboZWs

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 8, 2025

"I think it was a very, very high-level match, was long. It happens. We saw it in the past with other players, and today it happened to me.

"So, we try to delete it somehow and take the positive and keep going. There are no other ways.

"Now I find myself here, playing the longest match in history of Roland-Garros in a final. It hurts this, yes, but in other way you cannot keep going crying, you know... So it happens.

"If you watch only the sad part, you're never going to come back. I believe I have improved as a player since last year, which is good. So we try to keep pushing."

Since the start of 2024, Sinner is 90-3 against everyone else other than Alcaraz, but 0-5 against the Spaniard in the same time, with four of those defeats coming in finals.

Sinner also said his rivalry with Alcaraz is different from ones of the past, but their matches are good for the sport.

Sinner added: "I think every rivalry is different, no? Back in the days, they played a little bit different tennis. Now, the ball is going fast. It's very physical. It's slightly different from my point of view.

"I was lucky enough to play against Novak [Djokovic], against Rafa [Nadal]. In Grand Slams Roger [Federer] I never played, unfortunately. Beating these guys, it takes a lot. I have the same feeling with Carlos and some other players.

"It's good to see that we can also produce tennis like this, because I think it's good for the whole movement of tennis and the crowd."