Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz celebrates with the trophy after winning the men’s singles final against Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Carlos Alcaraz fought back to defeat Alexander Zverev in a five-set French Open final on June 9 and become the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces.
The 21-year-old battled cramps to recover from 2-1 down in sets and win a gripping contest 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 after four hours and 19 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Alcaraz adds the Roland Garros crown to the Wimbledon title he won against Novak Djokovic last year and the 2022 U.S. Open.
He will head to the Australian Open next year with the chance to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.
Fourth seed Zverev, who settled a court case in Germany two days ago over domestic abuse allegations, is still waiting for a maiden major title.
He had also lost his only previous Slam final in five sets, when he blew a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open.
Zverev had high hopes of finally getting over the line— he has also lost six Slam semi-finals— but Alcaraz was too strong in the key moments as he levelled their head-to-head record at 5-5.
Alcaraz said before the final he wanted to join the list of men’s players from his country, including his idol Rafael Nadal, to win the Roland Garros title, and he celebrated becoming the eighth Spanish champion by falling to the clay with his head in his hands in disbelief.
Zverev’s nervy start
Zverev endured a miserable start, double-faulting on the first two points of the match en route to being broken in the opening game.
But Alcaraz was not immune to the nerves of a maiden French Open final, framing a regulation forehand into the stands and then also double-faulting as he gifted the break straight back.
The Spaniard did not take too long to find his groove, though, breaking to love in the fifth game on his way to pocketing the opener.
The youngster had to save three break points to hold in a 10-minute first game of the second set, but slipped 3-2 behind when he failed to stave off two more break points as another forehand sailed into the crowd.
Suddenly Zverev had a spring in his step and Alcaraz was reduced to scrambling at the back of the court, falling a double-break down with a double-fault.
Zverev wrapped up an ultimately one-sided second set with a hold to love.
The German made it three successive love holds with two more early in the third set, before…