PARIS — There was never any danger of “Royal march“Back into hibernation here at the French Open.
Spain's national anthem played after each of Rafael Nadal's 14 singles victories, and it played again in the crisp Paris afternoon air on Sunday after Carlos Alcaraz's epic five-set victory over Alexander Zverev. It was Alcaraz's third Grand Slam title, after winning the US Open crowns in 2022 and Wimbledon last year.
Having grown up on the clay courts of Spain, Alcaraz seemed the most obvious heir to Nadal's throne. By lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires, he joined an elite club, becoming the seventh man to win a Grand Slam on all three surfaces. But what's scary? He is the youngest, at 21 years old, to achieve this.
“He's better than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at 21 years old,” said analyst John McEnroe.
McEnroe made that statement before the final began on Court Philippe-Chatrier, and what followed over the next 4 hours and 19 minutes was a display of stamina, shot variety and soul-searching. Zverev followed Alcaraz, but in the end, Alcaraz won 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. Six-time French Open champion Bjorn Borg presented the trophy to Alcaraz and the baton was passed to a new generation.
“Winning a Grand Slam is always special,” Alcaraz said after the match. “Winning first in each Grand Slam is always super special. But at Roland Garros, meeting all the Spanish players who have won this tournament and being able to put my name on that incredible list is something incredible. Something I dream of.”[ed] about… since I started playing tennis, since I was 5, 6 years old.”
When Alcaraz was young, he used to run home after school and ask his parents to turn on the television so he could watch Nadal at Roland Garros. His parents were there to witness Alcaraz lift the trophy, a journey that closed the circle, standing in the same place where his hero had done so on 14 previous occasions. Nadal watched from afar and offered his congratulations.
“Congratulations Carlos for this immense victory!!!! Great!!!! Very happy for your successes!!! Let's go!” Nadal published in Spanish in X.
Congratulations @carlosalcaraz for this immense victory!!!! Big!!!! Very happy for your successes!!! 🇪🇸 #Come on https://t.co/bIBbJhyh4B
– Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 9, 2024
ALCARAZ used to Studying hours and hours of footage from the greats. He watched Djokovic on hard courts, Federer and Andy Murray on grass courts and Nadal on clay. He had the benefit of growing up being able to learn from that generation, inspired and motivated in equal measure.
“I always wanted to be one of the best players in the world,” he said after his semi-final victory. “If I want to be one of the best players in the world, I have to be a good player on all surfaces, like Roger, Novak, Rafa, Murray did. The best players in the world were successful on all surfaces.”
One day, the next generation will study it. Those who continue playing are envious of their talent.
“He is a very complete tennis player at his age, with very few weaknesses,” Nadal said of Alcaraz earlier this year. “At his age I had a worse serve, a worse volley, a worse backhand. I had many things worse than him at his age.”
Since Alcaraz burst onto the scene, great things were expected. He had an incredible skill set, which meant he could challenge on multiple surfaces. His first entry at Roland Garros was back in 2020, but he lost in the qualifiers to Aleksandar Vukic. A year later he reached the third round, but lost in three sets to Jan-Lennard Struff.
In 2022, Zverev defeated him in the quarterfinals. But three months later, Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam in New York. At the 2023 French Open, Djokovic dispatched him in the semi-finals in four sets, with Alcaraz suffering from debilitating cramps. But a month later he won Wimbledon, in only his fourth grass-court tournament.
When the year 2024 rolled around, he took the collective lessons from each experience and put them all together to build this extraordinary career. Alcaraz came into this tournament with injury problems. A troublesome injury to his right arm caused him to miss most of his clay court swing. When he arrived in Paris, he wore a protective sleeve on his arm; his forehand, by his own admission, was not working 100%. But his self-confidence is such that he developed his fitness and confidence by playing in the main draw.
He defeated JJ Wolf in the first round and then needed four sets to overcome qualifier Jesper De Jong in the second round. It was after this test that he said he felt comfortable unleashing the entire whip right from him. Sebastian Korda, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas were eliminated in straight sets, but then came the successful showdown with current world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.
Both Sinner and Alcaraz suffered cramps. Alcaraz did everything he could to protect this from Sinner, and he did it in five sets. He had learned from the match against Djokovic how to deal with it.
“I will say that I am mentally stronger [than 2023]. I knew how to deal with these situations,” Alcaraz said. “I knew the cramps were going to help me [go] Far away if I stay there. I knew I probably have to make my points clear. [shorter]. “So I knew a lot better how to do it this year than I did last year.”
At that point in the press conference, Alcaraz had already checked his phone. He had seen that he had become the youngest male player to reach the Grand Slam final on all three surfaces. He smiled at the memory and said, “Breaking new records is great.”
ALWAYS HAS BEEN Alcaraz's goal was to dominate all three surfaces, but he still needed that elusive trophy to secure his place among the pantheon of greats. To do this, he needed to surpass Zverev.
Zverev was playing some of the best tennis of his career. He also knows this place well, having reached the French Open semi-final in the last four years. He was desperate to win that first Grand Slam title, after falling in the finals of the 2020 US Open.
This was going to be a final decided by small margins; Sometimes it comes down to who can find another level in the final set.
It was Alcaraz who started better than the two, taking the first set 6-3. He then had a break in the second, but his game fell apart as Zverev took advantage of errors to win five games in a row and take the set 6-2. Alcaraz later said that he was trying to hide from Zverev how nervous he was.
But the same pattern occurred again in the third set, when Alcaraz served for the set at 5-2, only to lose 7-5. Alcaraz seemed agitated and exasperated. But all the time he was figuring things out: he stayed further back on Zverev's serve and was willing to let Zverev hit him and wait to counterattack, and when opportunities started to present themselves, Alcaraz pounced on them.
Alcaraz was receiving frequent treatment from the physiotherapist on his left leg, but he turned the match in his favor, taking the fourth set 6-1, and then, in the fifth, he was already on the rise. His highlight reel will include numerous forehands down the line, the kind where he curled the eye of the needle to find the narrowest gap in Zverev's defense, and a backhand lob at the start of the fourth set that barely kissed the line.
But the best shot of all? Perhaps the most skillful shot of a crosscourt backhand to help make the score 5-2 in the fifth, which fooled almost everyone on the court and somehow found its way.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!#Roland Garros @carlosalcaraz pic.twitter.com/PNbDGJwQtt
– Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) June 9, 2024
One game and a few minutes later, Alcaraz was on his back on the clay, filled with relief, exhaustion and euphoria from winning the French Open. He has an incredible ability to close out matches when his back is against the wall: he is now 11-1 in matches that have reached the fifth set.
“I know that when I play a fifth set you have to give everything, you have to give your heart,” Alcaraz said after the match. “In those moments, it is where the best players give their best tennis. I want to be one of the best tennis players in the world, so I have to give my extra in those moments and show the opponent that I am fresh, like me.” “I'm playing in the first game of a match.”
He will celebrate by getting a tattoo of today's date to accompany those other Grand Slam wins on September 11, 2022 and July 16, 2023.
Alcaraz now joins his heroes Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moyá and Albert Costa to win here. He is young enough to have them as references in his youth, idols just one step away, but now he has Ferrero training, and Alcaraz is mentioned in the same breath as those he dreamed of emulating.
It takes a little time for the French Open to adopt a new child as its own. The chants of “Ole!” It only broke out when Alcaraz was preparing to serve for the championship. Nadal had to win his love and now he is immortalized here with a statue.
Alcaraz now joins the lists of greats who have won this tournament. But he's just getting started, and if he continues to develop his game in this way, the Spanish anthem will be a mainstay here for years to come.
“I just want to move forward and see how many Grand Slams I'm going to win at the end of my career,” Alcaraz said. “I hope I reach [record of] 24, but now I'm going to enjoy the third and we'll see in the future.”
