The poster made all tennis fans salivate. It will not take place. While everyone dreamed of seeing him face Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of Roland-Garros, the Spanish prodigy Carlos Alcaraz (19) was stopped, brutally, in four sets (6-4, 6-4 , 4-6, 7-6 (9-7)) and 3h18 of play, this Tuesday, in the quarter-finals of the tournament. The fault of an untenable, intractable Alexander Zverev. Both players put on a magnificent show. This duel has reached heights, bordering on perfection. The sublime. At the net, the two actors could fall into each other’s arms to the ovation of the public.
Before the terrible clash of titans between “Djoko” and “Rafa” in the evening, the earth has therefore already shaken in the afternoon. This confrontation has kept all its promises. Even more. Both players gave their all, multiplying strikes as powerful as they were precise, making impossible defenses. It was no longer tennis but a video game. Especially during this fourth round that each, in turn, will have thought to win. But after erasing a set point (5-6 in the tie-break), the German, with a supersonic return, won the game on his second match point.
Two weeks after being slapped by the Spaniard in the final of the Madrid Masters (6-3, 6-1), “Sascha” Zverev therefore took his revenge. He showed that he was not world number 3 and Olympic champion – last summer in Tokyo – for nothing. But, at only 19, Alcaraz proved to him that he was the future of tennis.
“Carlos is one of the best players in the world,” said Sascha. It’s almost impossible to beat him. And so I knew I had to play my best tennis from the first point because if he leads in the game he gains even more confidence it would have been very hard for me to come back. And so I’m happy to have won in 4 sets, that there was no 5th set. »
For the first time in the tournament, Alcaraz, who had 14 successes on clay this season, found himself stronger than him. “I leave this court, this tournament, telling myself that I fought well until the last point, until the last second of this match and I am proud of it, assures the Spaniard. Maybe I didn’t start well enough at this level in the quarter-finals, against one of the best players in the world. That’s the lesson I take away. I have to improve. I will do it on the matches to come, the Grand Slams to come. I think I’m not very far from reaching the semi-finals, not very far from winning a Grand Slam either. What is needed is perhaps to learn the lessons of this kind of match. I have the level, in any case. I have the confidence to win a Grand Slam or, in any case, reach the semi-finals next time. »
The German qualifies for the second semi-final in a row at Roland-Garros. Last year he was stopped by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. This time he will face the winner of the duel between Djokovic and Nadal. “There’s a reason they’re the best at Grand Slams, one has 21 wins and the other 20,” Zverev said. So they’ve been dictating the game for 20 years. There is obviously a huge reason for all this. And it’s true, I didn’t beat either of them in the Majors but I was pretty close to it I think. I think I’ve had some games. Hopefully I’ll be able to handle this upcoming game with the confidence I gained today. »