BY JAMES BECK
The legend of Carlos Alcaraz and his magical racket lives on.
The 21-year-old Spaniard executed one magical shot after another with his racket and legs Sunday morning in the French Open final. That bit of magic spelled defeat for Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
This was a final to remember, one of the great matches of all the Grand Slams. It just wasn’t in the cards for the 26-year-old Zverev to finally win a Grand Slam title.
HE HAD IT, THEN HE DIDN’T
Both players seemed to play a game of “he had it and then he didn’t.”
Alcaraz appeared to have everything under control in the first set, but Zverev rushed through the second set and then made a comeback from 5-2 down in the third set to win five straight games.
Zverev had everything going for him when he started the fourth set with the two-sets-to-one advantage. It appeared that all the 6-6 Zverev had to do was to continue playing his masterful game of big serves and mighty ground strokes.
But Zverev couldn’t get started in the fourth set until he was down 4-0. So much for a smooth and easy ride to a major singles title. By then, the magic of Alcaraz was heating up.
MAGIC OF ALCARAZ HEATING UP
Zverev still had his chances, even when he fell behind 2-1 in the fifth set. He had to feel pretty good about his chances when he took a triple break point lead against Alcaraz’s serve and appeared ready to even the set at 2-2. Even after Carlos came up with a winner to bring the game score to double break point.
Zverev still was ready to even the entire match.
That’s when everything seemed to go haywire for the German, while all the while, Alcaraz was able to repeatedly come up with his magical shots as the Spaniard made critical shots that looked almost impossible to make.
ALCARAZ HEADED FOR GREATNESS
Everything for Zverev was lost in the magical racket of Alcaraz.
What was then initially called a game-ending Alcaraz double fault and a 2-2 deadlock quicky reversed itself and Alcaraz stayed alive by winning the next three points while taking a 3-1 advantage.
Zverev did get back to a 3-2 deficit and had a break point in the sixth game, but that was it for the hopes of Zverev. The last two games went rather easily in favor of Alcaraz to wrap up a 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 victory for Alcaraz.
That moved the Spaniard to a higher level of success on the ATP Tour. He became the youngest man to win major titles on all of the different surfaces, clay, grass and hard courts.
Carlos Alcaraz and his magical racket appear to be headed for greatness.
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James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.
