Carlos Alcaraz started poorly and fell behind early in his French Open semifinal against Jannik Sinner. Later, as both dealt with cramps under Friday's afternoon sun, Alcaraz trailed by two sets to one.
By the end of the latest installment in this burgeoning rivalry between two young, talented players, an engaging five-setter that lasted 4 hours, 9 minutes, Alcaraz actually had accumulated fewer total points, 147-145.
That, of course, is not the score that matters. And Alcaraz, who says he takes pleasure from challenges, ultimately persevered, pulling out a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sinner to get to his first final in Paris. It made the 21-year-old from Spain the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam title match on three surfaces.
鈥淵ou have to find the joy (while) suffering. That鈥檚 the key 鈥 even more on clay, here at Roland Garros. Long rallies. Four-hour matches. Five sets,鈥 Alcaraz said. 鈥淵ou have to fight. You have to suffer. But as I told my team many, many times, you have to enjoy suffering.鈥
He won championships at the U.S. Open in 2022 on hard courts and at Wimbledon in 2023 on grass.
Now the No. 3-seeded Alcaraz will face No. 4 Alexander Zverev of Germany on the red clay Sunday. Hours before his 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 semifinal victory over No. 7 Casper Ruud of Norway, Zverev鈥檚 domestic abuse case in Berlin ended, because he reached an out-of-court settlement with his accuser, a former girlfriend.
"I鈥檓 happy that it鈥檚 over,鈥 Zverev said about the court proceeding at his post-match news conference. 鈥淵eah, nothing else more to say.鈥
When a reporter tried to follow up on the topic, Zverev said: 鈥淲e move on. I never, ever want to hear another question about the subject again. That goes out to everybody.鈥
Ruud started well, but then began to fade, and he was handed some pills by a doctor during a third-set changeover. Ruud, who said afterward he had a stomach problem, looked listless and stopped chasing some shots, a shell of the player who leads the tour in match wins this season and has been the runner-up at majors three times 鈥 including in 2022 and 2023 in Paris.
Germany's Alexander Zverev plays a shot against Norway's Casper Ruud during their semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 7, 2024. (Jean-Francois Badias / AP Photo)
Zverev finally broke through at Roland Garros after bowing out in the semifinals each of the past three years. This will be his second Grand Slam final: He blew a two-set lead and lost in five against Dominic Thiem at the U.S. Open in 2020.
鈥淚 was not mature enough. I was maybe too much of a kid still,鈥 said Zverev, who is now 27. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what the occasion means.鈥
This will be the first French Open men鈥檚 final without Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer since 2004.
Djokovic was the defending champion in Paris, but he withdrew before the quarterfinals after tearing the meniscus in his right knee and had surgery this week. Because he failed to get back to the final, he will drop from atop the ATP rankings, allowing Sinner to rise a spot from No. 2, despite his defeat on Friday.
鈥淥bviously disappointed how it ended, but it鈥檚 part of my growing and the process,鈥 said Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January for his first major trophy. 鈥淭he winner is happy, and then the loser tries to find a way to beat him the next time.鈥
The 22-year-old Italian showed up in Paris with a lingering hip injury that forced him to sit out the clay-court tournament in Rome last month. Alcaraz missed that event, too, because of a right forearm issue that he said made him afraid to hit his booming forehands at full force.
Both men experienced physical problems in the third set. Alcaraz's right hand began to cramp. Sinner had his right forearm and left thigh massaged by a trainer during changeovers.
It brought to mind last year鈥檚 French Open semifinals, when Alcaraz got off to a terrific start against Djokovic but then dealt with full-body cramps that rendered the remainder of the match anticlimactic.
鈥淚 learned from last year鈥檚 match against Djokovic, when I was in the same position as today,鈥 Alcaraz said. 鈥淚 know that, in this moment, you have to be calm, you have to keep going, because the cramp is going to go away. You have to stay there, fighting.鈥
He and Sinner are seen as the future of men鈥檚 tennis. The present isn鈥檛 too shabby, either. Even though this was not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing of their nine head-to-head meetings 鈥 Alcaraz leads 5-4 鈥 and they combined for 102 unforced errors, there were moments of brilliance that generated dueling clap-accompanied chants of each man鈥檚 first name from the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.
In the fifth set, with shadows covering more than half the court, Alcaraz moved out front by sliding until he could reach across his body to snap a backhand passing winner for a break point. A forehand winner 鈥 one of his 30 in the match 鈥 made it 2-0 at the 3 1/2-hour mark, earning a yell of 鈥淰amos!鈥 from his coach, 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Soon, it was 3-0, and Alcaraz was on his way.
鈥淚t was a great match. For sure, the sets he won, he played better in the important points,鈥 Sinner said. 鈥淭hat was the key.鈥
Both players walloped the ball with such force that the ball-off-strings thuds elicited gasps from spectators in the middle of points.
Italy's Jannik Sinner plays a shot against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz during their semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 7, 2024. (Christophe Ena / AP Photo)
Sinner, his rust-coloured shirt a few shades darker than the clay, came out ready at the start of the match, barely ever missing, gliding more than grinding along the baseline, stretching his long limbs to get to nearly everything Alcaraz offered. Alcaraz, his right arm covered by a white sleeve, would deliver a powerful shot to a corner, punctuated with a grunt, and Sinner would somehow get to it, flip it back and draw a mistake.
Sinner led 4-0 and it took Alcaraz 20 minutes of striving to simply place a 鈥1鈥 beside his name on the scoreboard. The second set began inauspiciously for Alcaraz, who fell behind 2-0.
鈥淚 told myself,鈥 Alcaraz said, 鈥渢hat it鈥檚 going to be a long match.鈥
Here's how Alcaraz came through: He came up with a 32-23 edge in winners over the last two sets.
With his strokes, somehow, gaining zest, and the fans, somehow, getting louder, Alcaraz advanced at a tournament he grew up watching on TV at home in Spain as his countryman Nadal piled up a record 14 titles.
Not that it was easy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the toughest matches that I鈥檝e played, for sure,鈥 Alcaraz said. 鈥淭he toughest matches that I played in my short career have been against Jannik.鈥
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