After all, Novak Djokovic was right: Carlos Alcaraz may have won their only previous meeting, but a best-of-five Grand Slam will always be different.
So it turned out. For more than two hours, the most anticipated match of the year lived up to the hype. Djokovic and Alcaraz traded blows and had the crowd at the French Open under control. Djokovic had to be at his best to take the first set 6-3, then Alcaraz found his spark and raised his own game to win the second 7-5. A third set with the same brilliance attracted, as did a fourth and even a fifth. Djokovic, 36, won 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1.
But then Alcaraz stopped. After jumping on Djokovic’s serve, he pulled himself up and groped his lower right leg. His calf was painfully stiff and spasms began to spread through his body. “Not just the legs,” Alcaraz said. “Hands too.” It was a different game then. Alcaraz refused to give up, but it was no contest. The Spaniard, so exciting when in full flight, moved like a bird whose wings have been clipped.
Such physical difficulties are not unusual for players at this stage of their career. Although he has already risen to world No. 1, Alcaraz’s development is still in its formative years. The Spaniard had only recently turned 20 and was playing in his second Grand Slam semi-final on the hottest day of the tournament so far in Paris.
It was heartbreaking to see Alcaraz suffer though. His rapid rise to the top of the game came without showing any major weaknesses. He is already a Grand Slam champion and has already triumphed in marathon matches. His US Open victory last September came after he beat Jannik Sinner in five hours and 15 minutes in the quarterfinals, in a match that featured long rallies and rarely let up in intensity.
Alcaraz always plays at full speed and that was the game plan against Djokovic as well. But facing the 22-time Grand Slam champion requires perfection, especially on the big points. In the early exchanges, Alcaraz looked irritated, exhausted and under pressure as he made errors from the baseline. It was uncharacteristic of a player who usually plays with such a positive attitude. He was under considerable stress and it was notable that Alcaraz repeatedly turned and gestured to his box during the first set.
Djokovic let Alcaraz into his own game, taking the ball early in an aggressive approach that disrupted the Spaniard’s rhythm. Djokovic’s control and precision in service games pushed Alcaraz’s defensive capabilities to their limits. There was never a lost cause for Alcaraz, never a drop shot or lob Djokovic couldn’t reach, but all those sprints and hard efforts eventually added up.
Alcaraz lost a game to receive a medical suspension
Perhaps it’s only now that Alcaraz and everyone else are realizing how different the proposition really is against Djokovic at a Grand Slam. “It’s not easy to play against Novak,” he explained. “If someone says that he enters the court without nerves, playing against Novak, he is lying. Of course, when you play a semi-final at a Grand Slam tournament, you have a lot of nerves, but even more so if you face Novak. The next time I face Novak, I hope to be different, but the nerves will be there.”
“The tension. The tension in the match,” he continued. “The tension in the first set, the second set, it was a really intense two sets. Really good rallies, hard rallies, drop shots, sprints. It’s a combination of many things. But the most important thing was the pressure that I had the whole first two sets.”
Djokovic was also pushed to his maximum level, but the Serbian was playing his 45th Grand Slam semi-final in his 17th year at the French Open. Djokovic joined Alcaraz at the top of the sport, but it was an occasion where the experience proved invaluable. Djokovic was empathetic and understood what had happened.
“I can understand the emotions and the circumstances that affect you mentally and emotionally,” he said. “Being in one of the biggest tournaments in the world, maybe for the first time in his career he was expected to win. He might not have been an underdog, chasing the title and trying to win against a favorite. But it was probably the other way around. So maybe that influenced him.
“You have to learn from these kinds of matches,” Alcaraz suggested. He has time on his side, Djokovic told the network after completing the win.
Djokovic now has the chance to move ahead of Rafael Nadal with a record 23rd men’s Grand Slam victory. He will face last year’s runner-up Kasper Ruud, who reached back-to-back French Open finals after knocking out Alexander Zverev. Ruud came to Roland Garros with low confidence but found his groove round by round and showed ruthlessness to defeat Zverev in straight sets.
But Djokovic’s aura looms large and, for this year at least, it was a challenge that proved too far even for the world No.1.