Everything came to an abrupt end at 1-1 in the 3rd set. Carlos Alcaraz seemed to have taken the lead. Novak Djokovic seemed to suffer physically from the repeated efforts but on a harmless forehand, the Spaniard saw the cramps tie up his right calf. And immediately tear his hopes apart. Courageously and sportingly, Carlos Alcaraz wanted to finish the match but was no longer able to compete, only scored one game. Novak Djokovic, winner 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6 -1, will experience his 7th Roland-Garros final (he has two titles in 2016 and 2020). Carlos Alcaraz will have to wait before experiencing a first final at Roland-Garros.
At a press conference, cap carefully planted on his head, eyes off, Carlos Alcaraz said: “In a match like this, I arrived feeling good, having cramps, it’s very disappointing. After the first two intense sets, I had cramps in my arm and at the start of the 3rd I had cramps all over my body, not just in my legs. My whole body suffered.” And to say: “I was very nervous at the start of the match. The match was very intense with exchanges, drop shots, he combined different styles of play.
The suspense was gone, the intensity had disappeared but Carlos Alcaraz never thought of throwing in the towel: “I never thought of giving up. Retiring in the Grand Slam semi-finals would have been terrible. In the 4th set, I thought I only had a 1% chance of coming back…”
Marked, Carlos Alcaraz recalled: “I have suffered from cramps before, but never at this level, for example against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open (in the 3rd round in 2021, match won in the tie-break of the 5th set ). You have to learn from these kinds of experiences. I’m going to learn from this game and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s something I have to manage, I will have more experience in a next game. It’s never easy to play against Novak. If someone says he plays Novak without feeling nervous, he’s lying. The next time I play against Novak, I hope to feel differently. But I will still be nervous…”
