By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) -World number one Jannik Sinner was part of the longest French Open final when he lost in five sets to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday but his dad was not there to witness it because he was at work, the Italian said.
The marathon match lasted five hours and 29 minutes, making it the longest French Open final since tennis turned professional in 1968 and the second longest in Grand Slam history.
“My dad was not here because he was working today,” Sinner, who hails from a German-speaking Alpine region in northern Italy told a press conference. “Nothing of our success changes in the family.”
His father works as a chef in the mountains.
Sinner had a full box for support, with his team of coaches as well as his mother, who was seen welling up and being extremely nervous as her son wasted three match points in the fourth set.
“It was nice to see my mom here. And yeah, I guess my dad, he was watching on TV – if he finished work. It’s okay.”
The Italian top seed wasted three match points at 5-3, 40-0 up in the fourth set and was also 6-5 up in the decider, before Alcaraz clawed his way back in dramatic fashion to win the title for the second year running.
“So we are just very simple family, you know,” he said.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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