Bj�rn Borgon the 50th anniversary of the first of his six titles at Roland Garros, was in charge of giving the Musketeers Cup to Carlos Alcarazexecutioner of Alexander Zverev in an exciting final who died with a 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-2, in 4 hours and 19 minutes .
It is the first of many trophies to come for the Murcian, the youngest to reign on three different surfaces in the ‘Grand Slam’ tournaments. At 21 years and 35 days old, This Sunday the romance of Spanish tennis with the land of Paris has been extended. A total of 27 tetulos, of which 18 have been in the 21st century.
Alcaraz started winning from the moment he left the locker room tunnel. The Philippe Chatrier, which once belonged to Rafael Nadal, is now his.
The game started with Carlitos taking the rest, as he likes. Zverev seemed like a pudding. He showed it with two double faults on his first two serves. Nothing like it had been seen. The ghosts of the US Open final, in 2020, when Dominic Thiem lost two sets and a break in the third, were still there.
The 7 best highlights of Alcaraz-Zverez: impossible to keep just one!
The break was for the Murcian with a winning right. It was quite a declaration of intentions. His arsenal was prepared to go on the attack.
The nerves went from one side of the network to the other. A fall and a double fault by Carlitos in his first turn of service. A long drop shot was the prelude to 1-1.
Sascha had taken off the pressure with rackets. Brilliance appeared when they both calmed down. Alcaraz’s second break came in the fifth set. He consolidated the advantage with 4-2.
The El Palmar tennis player missed two 5-2 balls, with a 15-40 from the rest. I didn’t miss it because the third break was to close the set.
Zverev was able to rejoin the match in the continuation. All the breaking points escaped him, one after another. The German depended too much on the percentage of first serves to stay alive. He suffered in each of his shifts.
Sascha, desperate, tried to deceive the referee with bounces that were not. He received whistles from the public. The Spaniard’s unforced error counter was increasing. At number 21, a shot with the right, his opponent took the initiative in the second set: 4-2.
Carlitos’ third double fault gave up the set. Zverev was launched, he got on top of the ball very well, he touched it cleanly and everything came out. Almost nothing failed. With the score tied, it was time for Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil to wipe the slate clean.
The Hamburg player measures 1.98 meters and moves with the agility of a sprinter. The tie remained until the sixth game. It was Alcaraz who opened hostilities again and put the score at 4-2. Then he made it 5-2 and then served for the set, with 5-3.
Five games in a row
When the option of taking advantage in the score seemed closer, an unexpected reaction came from Zverev. He would chain five games to make the partial his own.
The Spaniard’s inspiration had stopped. The shots of him were leaving. The unforced errors statistic reflected 39 to 19. He had to come back, like in Friday’s semifinal against Jannik Sinner.
The miracle of cucumber juice
The world number three resorted to cucumber juice (a ball boy brought him two bottles) while protesting to the chair umpire about how dry the clay was. They listened to him and passed the hose.
Carlitos reacted in a big way, with a 4-0 start. I would continue fighting until the end. He knew that he is practically infallible in five sets: he arrived at the event with 10 victories in 11 matches.
The physiotherapist appeared, with 4-1, to apply a massage to the Spaniard’s left leg. The battle lasted three hours. The tennis player from El Palmar scored the seventh ‘break’. With 2-1 he raised three 2-2 balls. They were half title. She put her hand to her ear and asked for applause from the fans. They responded to the cry of “Charles, Charles“.
Nobody wanted to miss such an exciting final. Neither did Novak Djokovic and his son Stefan, who followed her through television. It is known that the Djokovic family is very from Alcaraz.
The Spaniard signed a monologue for the story in a fifth manga to frame. With the victory against Zvevev, whom he equaled five in the head-to-head, there are only three players left with the precedents in favor of the Murcian in the ‘top100’: Novak Djokovic (2-3), Roman Safiullin ( 0-1) and Hugo Gaston (0-1). Carlitos is the present and the future of tennis.
