Alcaraz wins his 1st French Open after a crazy final!

© AFP

Guillaume Nonque

le 09/06/2024 à 18h31

2 min to read

Alcaraz Roland Garros Zverev

Carlos Alcaraz emerged victorious from a final full of twists and turns to win his very first French Open. The Spaniard showed great nerves to dominate Alexander Zverev in over 4 hours and 5 sets (6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2).

Inconsistent in the first three sets, the world no. 3 was then imperious in the last two. On the other side of the net, the German was unable to keep up. It's another terrible disappointment for Zverev, following on from the US Open 2020, where he failed to reach the final despite leading Dominic Thiem 2 sets to 0.

Alcaraz first took control of the match against an overly tense Zverev (6-3). But the German responded perfectly, raising his game and giving his young opponent no time to get organized (2-6). He was unable to keep up the momentum, however, and it was the Spaniard who regained control in a 3rd set that seemed destined to go his way (5-2), but which ultimately eluded him.

Too nervous and making too many mistakes, the world No.3 failed to capitalize on the opportunity and it was finally the world No.4 who took the lead 5 games later (5-7).

The match then turned definitively on its head, with Alcaraz finally finding the consistency he'd been lacking until then to dominate the 4th (6-1) and 5th sets (6-2). However, another potential turnaround would have come at 2-1 in the final set.

Leading by a break (2-1), the Spaniard saved a break point at 15-40 after serving a second service ball that was a fault, but which the chair umpire deemed to have touched the line.

Zverev should therefore have come back to 2-2, which could have completely changed the complexion of the end of the match (see our article: Controversy at Roland-Garros. Zverev wronged by a refereeing decision in the final). But history decided otherwise.

Alcaraz succeeds Novak Djokovic and, at the age of 21, has already won his 3rd Grand Slam title after the US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023. Amazing!