The China Mail - 'This one hurts': Sinner wants to forget painful French Open final loss

Sinner had looked set to pocket his first French Open title with Alcaraz serving at 0-40 when 3-5 down in the fourth set, but the reigning champion pulled off a battling hold before forcing a decider via a tie-break.

"Obviously this one hurts. Yeah, there's not so much to talk about right now," Sinner told reporters after his 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (10/2) defeat in the longest final in Roland Garros history.

"It was a very, very high-level match, was long. Yeah, and it happens. You know, 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."

It was the 23-year-old's first defeat in a championship match at a major.

Sinner boasts three Grand Slam titles and entered Sunday's final looking to win his third successive major after claiming the US Open last season and defending his Australian Open crown in January.

Sinner's maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne came as he battled back from two sets down against Daniil Medvedev.

In Paris, he found himself on the other side of the net as he was the one to fail to convert a 2-0 lead.

"I tried to delete everything, every set. In Grand Slams you try to start from zero again," explained Sinner of his mindset ahead of the deciding set.

"You know, I was of course disappointed about the fourth set and match points and serving for the match. But again, I stayed there mentally. I didn't give him any free points.

"When it was over, it was over. That's different feeling, different things coming through your mind. So, yeah, you cannot change anymore when the match is over. But when you start a fifth set, you can still change some things."

- 'Cannot keep crying' -

Sinner will have to reset quickly and turn his attentions to the next Grand Slam on the calender -- Wimbledon, which gets underway at the end of June.

The Italian said he would be leaning on his down-to-earth family to help him get over the loss.

"My family, the people who knows me, you know, now they are helping me, no? It's a giving at times, and sometimes you take something, no? And now it's my time to take something from the close people I have," he explained.

"We are just a very simple family, you know. My dad was not here because he was working today. Nothing of our success changes in the family.

"It hurts this yes, but in other way you cannot keep crying, you know... So it happens."

The match-up was the long-awaited first meeting of the two new stars of the men's game in a Grand Slam final.

And it more than lived up to the hype as 22-year-old Alcaraz and Sinner served up one of the all-time great matches in tennis history.

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

"It was a good atmosphere today, no? And also to be part of it, it's very special. Of course, I'm happy to be part of this. Would be even more happy if I would have here the big trophy. But, yeah, as I said, you can't change it now."

N.Lo--ThChM