‘Car-los Car-los!’

PARIS (AP):

CARLOS ALCARAZ won his first French Open championship and third Grand Slam title by coming back to defeat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 yesterday.

Alcaraz is a 21-year-old from Spain who grew up watching countryman Rafael Nadal win trophy after trophy at Roland Garros – a record 14 in all – and now has eclipsed Nadal as the youngest man to collect major championships on three surfaces. Nadal was about a year and a half older when he did it.

Sunday’s victory allowed Alcaraz to add the clay-court championship at Roland Garros to his triumphs on hard courts at the US Open in 2022 and on grass at Wimbledon in 2023.

Alcaraz is now 3-0 in Grand Slam finals.

“You’re already a Hall of Famer and you already achieved so much,” said Zverev, who dropped to 0-2 in major title matches. “Not the last time you’re going to win this.”

Zverev, a 27-year-old from Germany, was the runner-up at the 2020 US Open after blowing a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem.

This time, Zverev lost after surging in front by reeling off the last five games of the third set. Alcaraz’s level dipped during that stretch and he seemed distracted by a complaint over the condition of the clay at Court Philippe Chatrier, telling chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein it was “unbelievable”.

But Alcaraz reset himself and surged to the finish, taking 12 of the last 15 games while being treated by a trainer at changeovers for an issue with his left leg.

Number three Alcaraz and number four Zverev were making their first appearance in a French Open final. Indeed, this was the first men’s title match at Roland Garros since 2004 without Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer.

While Alcaraz is not ranked number one at the moment – Jannik Sinner makes his debut at the top spot today – and a ‘2’ will be beside his name this week, there is little doubt that he is as good as it gets in men’s tennis right now.

Yesterday, Alcaraz overturned a deficit of two sets to one in the semi-finals against Sinner, making him the first man to capture the French Open by doing that since Manolo Santana – also from Spain – pulled off the trick in 1961.

Alcaraz first learned to play tennis on the rust-coloured slow surface, although he says he prefers hard courts. He grew up running home from school at this time of year to watch on TV as Nadal competed in Paris. Alcaraz says he dreamed back then of adding his own name to the list of Spanish men to win the event, including 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach.

And those red-and-yellow Spanish flags that became such an annual fixture at Chatrier in the era of Nadal were there again yesterday, this time to support Alcaraz. The difference? The cries that once were for “Ra-fa! Ra-fa!” are now for “Car-los! Car-los!”