You can’t stop Carlos Alcaraz on clay. You can only hope to slow him down.
Alcaraz won his first French Open title by beating Alexander Zverev 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. He fought against Zverev’s blistering serves and powerful volleys, but mostly he fought against himself. He played sloppy tennis at times, giving away points with double faults and missing easy shots, but overcame both his own demons and Zverev to take home his third Grand Slam title.
After the first set it felt like Alcaraz had to win the match. He had bullied Zverev on the pitch, routed him and exploited his energy levels; Unlike Alcaraz, Zverev had spent almost twenty hours on the pitch at the final and was not as fresh as you would like.
But in the second set, Alcaraz’s energy started to lag. He became wild and undisciplined, and Zverev took advantage of it. Against Alcaraz he finally enjoyed some sustained success, taking a 4–2 lead. Alcaraz looked like he was ready to take control again, but he couldn’t find any consistency. His second double fault put Zverev at 5-2, and a quick game later it was 6-2 and Zverev had tied the score.
The third set was a rollercoaster. Alcaraz took an early 2-1 lead, then found his second wind while leading 2-2 in the third set. Zverev took a moment to do what he does best (complain to the chair umpire about every perceived slight or disadvantage), and from that moment on, Alcaraz was back in the match. He cheered and jumped and smiled again. As he has said to the media in the past, you have to enjoy the suffering in tennis, and that is what Alcaraz does best.
But it didn’t last long. Leading 5-2 and just one game away from taking a 2-1 lead, Alcaraz got sloppy and Zverev came roaring back. He won five games in a row and won the third set 7-5. Now Alcaraz played from behind.
But that gave Alcaraz a new challenge. And he thrived. He rolled through the fourth set and came close to bagging Zverev, but managed to win 6-1 – even with a medical timeout to tend to his sore thigh. There were no shortcuts through this match. The only way to win was to play all five sets.
And that’s exactly what he did. Zverev won the first game, but otherwise came out very flat. Alcaraz, six years younger than Zverev, came out bouncing, and that was reflected in the way he played. He reduced the unforced errors, became very disciplined and rode all the way to victory.
He deserved every bit of celebration, and he did it with his team first.
We also got to see a parents’ party, with Alcaraz’s father and mother sitting in the stands.
With this win (and the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic), Alcaraz will move from number 3 in the world to number 2. Jannik Sinner, who lost to Alcaraz in the semi-finals, will move from number 2 to number 1. Djokovic drops from 1 to 3 , while Zverev’s loss in the final keeps him at No. 4.
