Luis Miguel Pascual |
Paris (EFE) body said enough
“I have entered more tense than necessary and I have not known how to relax. That extra tension in a Grand Slam takes its toll on you and with how tense the first two sets have been, even more so. Novak demands the maximum from you, he is squeezing you little by little, ”acknowledged the Spaniard, who despite his problems finished the game that he lost 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-1.
Alcaraz strain
For almost fifteen days, Alcaraz withstood the pressure of being number 1 and for many the top favorite to win the tournament, a feeling that became stronger as the games progressed and Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil left samples on the court. of his immense talent.
But the closeness of the duel against Djokovic, the appointment that everyone was waiting for, a rival who is looking for his twenty-third Grand Slam, made the rope too tight.
“Before the game I was more nervous than usual, whoever says that he is not when Djokovic is measured is lying,” he said.
The Serbian, who has also been increasing his level as the rounds have gone by, put on a match of enormous intensity. Alcaraz began more off-center against the Serbian, more used to this type of duel.
But after losing the first set, the second took on the dimension expected from this tennis summit, perhaps the most carat confrontation that current tennis can offer. The second set was an excellent duel, which the public savored without losing a crumb, in which the two contenders put all the tennis they are capable of.
The match pointed to a great height, worthy of the ones the Serb has played so many times against Rafael Nadal, with the still fresh memory of last year’s quarterfinals.
The spectators licked their lips with what they saw, but above all with what the game promised, which Alcaraz managed to match not without a titanic effort.
Alcaraz’s physicist said enough
But the Spanish physicist said enough. He began to suffer some cramps at the end of the great battle that was the second set, but in the first bars of the third the attack was total.
Alcaraz stopped after losing the second point of the third set. He tested his legs, before the gaze of the judge and of Djokovic himself, who came to inquire about his condition. He decided to receive attention from the physio, which earned him the loss of the next game, because this help is only authorized in track exchanges.
The Spaniard returned to the field but in a pitiful state, unable to run, to challenge the Serbian for balls, to be able to compete against one of the best of all time.
His coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and his team invited him to do it and he lamented: “I can’t go on like this.”
But he decided to stay, speed up his options despite the fact that he could barely continue on the field, stay on the track even if he could no longer give the show that has begun to make him a legend in Paris despite his youth.
“I felt that if I left I would have eaten my head more, it would have hurt more,” he said.
The third set was a monologue and in the fourth the Spaniard recovered some feeling, he did something on his part so that it would have started. “I thought I had a 1% chance and I wanted to hold on,” he said.
But against Djokovic miracles do not exist. Somewhat out of place, the Serbian was scoring points, adding games while he attended Alcaraz’s ordeal, who managed to win a game to avoid leaving with a scoreless set.
“Now it’s time to see what has happened, what I’ve done wrong, what needs to be improved for the next games (…) I have to learn to better control these situations,” said the Spaniard.
Alcaraz also received praise from Djokovic, who recognized that he suffered those same physical problems as a young man and learned to manage them over the years.
“He is young, he will win Roland Garros many times. He is an extraordinary and high-quality tennis player, very complete, ”said the Serb.
Despite the euphoria of qualifying for his seventh final in Paris, the 34th in Grand Slam, the tennis player who is looking for his 23rd big and thus break a tie at the summit with Nadal, assured that the work is not finished: “Let no one forget that there is still a game”.