Carlos Alcaraz won and lost Roland Garros several times in a tremendous, very tough final; When he won, he did it with some resounding blows that earned points and more points in delicate situations that will be stored in the highlights recurrent features of social networks, those that do not let us forget for a second Roger Federer or the best Rafa Nadal. The crossed, topspin forehand, which made the ball fly to the side of the court with which he closed the first set, leaving the beautiful German giant with one knee on the ground. Several diabolical drop shots that Alexander Zverev tried to fight against almost always in vain; one in particular after a barrage of sticks from Sasha in a very long game, almost ten minutes, that seemed to sentence the third set, the hardest of all, in favor of the Spaniard: a drop shot so difficult and at such an inopportune moment that even Juan Carlos Ferrero snorted with relief after seeing that the Alcaraz challenge, the main door or infirmary, ended with the Spaniard on his shoulders. Alcaraz took advantage of the slam that Zverev hit to drive the ball into the side of the net.
Let’s talk about the third set. The most important a priori of the game. Alcaraz dominated the first round and Zverev ate his brains in the second, rising several centimeters above the Murcian, riding the wave that surfers guess is good: a rhythm of punching and legs that, like termites, began to eat to Alcaraz by the feet. So with 1-1 it was time to know who was on the right side, Carlitos from the first set or Sasha from the second. They were the two best facing each other at their best moment of the game. And Alcaraz began to win the fight. Based on the tenacity announced in the Philippe-Chatrier, the tenacity that accompanies winners, the Spaniard broke Zverev’s serve and took a 5-2 lead. Tennis, it is known, is a major art of psychology. And Zverev, who has had a wonderful year, came back to have several set points. It was not, however, easy: it was not a match in which the finalists benefited from specific blackouts from their rival; When one was superior, it was because he surpassed another who was giving his best. And so Alcaraz and Zverev met at 5-5 and 6-5, where the Spaniard came to fight against a set point by lifting until he globed, causing the German’s confusion (who lost the point; Corretja, timely, recalled Michael Chang’s spoon serve in the historic ’89 final against Lendl). But there was no respite in Zverev’s surprisingly equipped head, elastic, formidable in hand-to-hand combat even despite the classic and bitter arguments with his father, sitting gloomily in the stands.
And yet, Alcaraz. The Spaniard is made of a flammable, subtle, permeable, elusive material: he is the king of the trick, yes, of the game, but above all he is a tennis player made of so many good previous tennis players that he is untranslatable in all his versions except in one. : he loses when he decides to lower his arms, and that is almost never, that is why he wins so much. He competed third until the end, he did not bite the dust even though Zverev seemed intractable, and those sensations of his, those of a tennis player who does not leave the match no matter how difficult the circumstances are (and the circumstances measure 1.98 and they had arms loose, in a state of grace). Alcaraz without emotions, Alcaraz raised to the cry of “let’s go” while industrially placing balls in the corners and combining killer dropshots and heavy forehands like elephants, slowly smoked the fourth set and broke the German in the fifth, he broke an immense rival and he did it after losing against him 2-1 in a Roland Garros final. Nadal made the extraordinary routine and we run the risk that with Alcaraz, his first triumph in Paris, we will consider certain things natural due to inheritance. He is 21 years old and has won in London, Paris and New York. And even something more: no one can define a game that is growing by leaps and bounds and that has managed to refine the show, a show for the fans, to the point of making it essential for victory. A necessary show for him and for us, a blessed, relentless and fun show: he wins, we have a good time.
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