Twenty-one-year-old Carlos Alcaraz achieves his third Slam: An administrator of a hunting club in the Spanish area of Murcia made the decision to build a tennis court at El Palmar, a hill community, at some point in the late 20th century. Although hard courts are less expensive, Spanish people adore red wine.
When his grandson, the third generation of tennis-mad men, started to show promise as a junior competitor skimping and sliding on clay, coaches and spectators saw it as a sign of providence – that this was going to be the next big clay-courter to come out of a country that has famously produced so many. His son would go on to have a short career before becoming a coach on the same courts.
Carlos Alcaraz would attest to their telling on Sunday. The 21-year-old won his maiden French Open title by defeating German fourth seed Alexander Zverev 6-2, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in a tight, uneven, low-quality match on a windy afternoon on Court Philippe Chatrier. In the Open Era, he became the fifth Spaniard to win the Roland Garros tournament.
By doing this, he also spared the tournament organizers the embarrassment of giving the “Musketeers Trophy” to a guy who was involved in a domestic violence lawsuit while the competition was going on.
Due to an arm injury, Alcaraz acknowledged the difficult preparations for the event by saying, “I call us a team, but it’s a family,” on the court.
“(I remember) Running when I finished school to put the TV on, just to watch the tournament on TV, and now I’m lifting the trophy in front of all of you,” the speaker said, highlighting the efforts of his family.
Exceeding anticipations
With a third Major, Alcaraz has become the youngest player to win a Grand Slam on all surfaces, surpassing even the most astronomically high expectations. However, this is the tournament where it was all meant to come together. The surface he has loved since childhood, where his skill, size forehand, and agility all come together to produce their finest play.
However, there wouldn’t be many of those weapons in Sunday’s final. The odd result is a kindness to a match that struggled through five sets, rarely displaying moments of brilliance, and instead focused on which player could handle the erratic level swings and capitalize on key opportunities.
Zverev was the superior player for the whole of this game as Alcaraz found it difficult to generate momentum. His timing was so wrong that he sprayed 56 mistakes in all, many of which came off his frame. For the most part, especially while under duress, his initial serve was lacking, and he frequently forced to make tactical adjustments just to stay in the fight.
Zverev’s weakness, meanwhile, has always been the highs and lows of best-of-five sets tennis. This athlete, who has been involved in this sport’s shorter format since he was a teenager, has accumulated a great deal of accomplishments, but even at 27, he has found it difficult to establish himself at the Grand Slams. His lone other Major final appearance came at the COVID-affected 2020 US Open, where he lost to Dominic Thiem in two sets and a break.
Even when he wasn’t playing at his best, Alcaraz would win exchanges because of his complete collapse after taking a 2-1 sets lead. This was another example of his inclination to be hesitant.
Both players were nervous as the match began, trading breaks until Alcaraz established control with his variation and forehand. Zverev was again kept on his toes by the changes on his backhand, and after creating the lead, the Spaniard won the opening set.
Zverev’s skill level was only going to increase, particularly on the serve, but right when it did, Alcaraz began to unravel. In addition to bringing the calculated aggression that has allowed him to capitalize on opponent mistakes en route to the final, the German began serving with greater force and precision. Alcaraz gave a thorough retreat in response.
He was surprised to be able to clutch up and fashion a break to lead 5-2 in the third set after dropping the second. However, just when it looked like he would ride it to a decisive sets lead, he would collapse in a way that has not been seen in his young career thus far, giving his opponent the opportunity to stay strong from the baseline and cruise to stealing the set.
However, in this long-term format, momentum fluctuates frequently, and Zverev’s evident incapacity to handle it was exposed.
Zverev would collapse catastrophically, failing to hold serve at all, giving Alcaraz the set and all the momentum heading into the decider after he appeared uncertain entering the fourth set. Even though Alcaraz improved a little in the decisive set, he was still mediocre with the ball, and Zverev dug himself a deep hole from which he refused to emerge. In the last two sets, the German committed 22 of his 41 unforced errors; Alcaraz cruised to victory.
Alcaraz may have shown signs of maturity by recognizing when his window of opportunity would open and by raising his game to the point where he can take advantage of it. He and his squad, though, will undoubtedly be aware that this was a game in which a more capable, composed player could have made him pay. He’s almost guaranteed to come back to this platform, and he’ll take some valuable lessons along with the glory.
