Novak Djokovic beats Carlos Alcaras to reach Roland Garros final

The most anticipated match of the French Open, the semi-final between 22-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic and world number one Spaniard Alcaraz, was marked by the highest level of tennis in the first two games and an injury, due to which the Spaniard effectively stopped resistance. The correspondent of Kommersant was a witness to the drama that unfolded on the main court of Roland Garros Evgeny Fedyakov.

Perhaps the greatest tennis player of our time against the youngest ever world ranking leader. The tennis world has lived in anticipation of this match not even two weeks Roland Garros, but almost nine months since Carlos Alcaraz won the US Open in September and made his debut as the first racket of the world. During this time, he never had a chance to play with Novak Djokovic, who then twice intercepted the lead from him and returned twice. Moreover, they had practically no chances to cross paths in major tournaments. The Serb was not allowed to attend the spring “masters” in Indian Wells and Miami, as well as, by the way, the US Open, due to the lack of a coronavirus vaccination, and the Spaniard missed last year’s final tournament in Turin, the Australian Open and Monte Carlo Open Championship. At the November Masters in Paris, Alcaraz was eliminated in the quarterfinals, and Djokovic took too long to get in shape during the current clay season and performed unsuccessfully in Madrid and Rome.

And finally, the long-awaited Roland Garros semi-final, although if Daniil Medvedev had not won the Italian Open and moved the Serb from second to third in the ranking, this would probably have been the final. “Generation gap” – with such a headline on the front page on Friday, the French L’Equipe, highlighting the fact that for the first time in the history of the Open Era, the age difference between the semi-finalists of Roland Garros was 16 years. When Djokovic played his first professional tournament in January 2003, the 10,000th tournament in Germany, Alcaraz hadn’t even been born yet.

Most of the predictions before this game were that youth would prevail in this case. Indeed, the Spaniard in almost all respects looked stronger than the Serb, who was not very impressive even at the beginning of the tournament, and in the quarterfinals against Karen Khachanov he lost the first set and only with great difficulty took the second game. Alcaraz serves stronger than Djokovic from the first ball, and in terms of the speed of the second serve, he generally surpasses him by almost 20 km / h. The Spaniard has great right hand shots, after which the ball flies like a bullet and bounces off the court in such a way that it can often be reflected only with the help of luck. Alcaraz has the arms of a tennis virtuoso and the legs of a sprinter. By and large, Djokovic could counter all this only with patience, stability and a gigantic experience of such important meetings. After all, the Spaniard spent his only second semi-final at the Grand Slam tournaments, and the Serbian – the 45th, and according to this indicator, he is only one match behind the record holder Roger Federer.

At a press conference, Djokovic will say that in one experience, even such semi-finals do not win. But he took the first set primarily thanks to the ability to fine-tune his nervous system, developed over the years. Taking someone else’s serve in the third game, Djokovic played two break points at 4:2 and one more at 5:3. Alcaraz had too many unforced errors, although half of them were due to Djokovic. The Spaniard put too much effort into breaking through the Serb’s defense, and even more so to gain the upper hand in draws all over the court. Therefore, Alcaraz took risks and made mistakes.

In the middle of the second set, a doctor appeared on the court, who began to massage Djokovic’s left thigh. And immediately after that, in the eighth game, he gave his serve. Then there was a reverse break, and then – the hardest tenth game on Djokovic’s serve, during which the Serb played three set points, and the twelfth game, which ended in favor of Alcaraz. According to both opponents, it was tennis of frantic intensity and of the highest level. It was all the more surprising to watch how, in the third game of the third installment, Alcaraz first stopped and then hobbled to his chair. These were convulsions, which, according to the Spaniard, twisted his legs, arms and whole body. This has already happened in Alcaraz’s career – for example, in the quarterfinals of the 2021 US Open against Stefanos Tsitsipas, but then he escaped. Now the first racket of the world had two options – to refuse to continue the fight or to continue it, having “one percent chance”. He chose the second and lost in 3 hours 23 minutes – 3:6, 7:5, 1:6, 1:6.

The final for Djokovic will be of great importance, and the leadership in the rankings, which he has the opportunity to return, is not the main thing now. More importantly, the victory will bring the Serb his 23rd Grand Slam title, and with it, the record that his 14-time winner Rafael Nadal, who was absent from Roland Garros due to injury, still owns with him.

In the final, Djokovic’s rival will be the Norwegian Kasper Ruud, who, having confidently defeated Alexander Zverev from Germany, reached the decisive stage in Paris for the second year in a row.