PARIS — Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz made history on Sunday by winning the French Open and becoming the youngest player in the professional tennis era to win three Grand Slam titles on three different courts.
The 21-year-old Alcaraz beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 to claim the French Open title in addition to the 2022 U.S. Open and 2023 Wimbledon titles.
“I’ve been struggling with an injury for a few weeks now,” Alcaraz said at the awards ceremony where he received his trophy from Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, a five-time champion at the tournament.
“I’m so grateful for the people around me. They help me grow as a player and as a person as I grow. I call them my team, but they’re my family. I’m lucky to have them here. After school, I’d run home, turn on the TV, watch this tournament, and now I have this trophy.”
After a four-hour, 19-minute final, the 27-year-old Zverev still has unfinished business of winning a Grand Slam tournament.
Calling all stats geeks: Has anyone ever double-faulted twice in a row in a Grand Slam final? Zverev did just that in the first game. That poor start allowed Alcaraz to have the tennis and the psychology advantage from the start. At 40-40, Alcaraz attacked with a ruthless forehand return and finished perfectly with a low cross-court backhand volley. And a minute later, Alcaraz had the game.
That was his plan, and it was not in vain that he chose to return the serve when he won the draw: he wanted to beat his opponent from the very first moment of the match.
But the plan went awry as the Spaniard gave up his serve the first time it was his turn to serve, something that happened to him in most of his matches in the tournament.
Alcaraz recovered and broke Zverev’s serve in the fifth game, 2-4, 15-40 up, but couldn’t close it out.
In any case, the Spaniard was much more relaxed and confident than he was at the start of his semi-final against Italian Jannik Sinner, and at times even seemed to enjoy trying different shots and spins against the German. On a rather cool day, where the wind grew increasingly stronger and more annoying as the final progressed, Alcaraz won the first set 6-3 with a superb cross-court forehand that his opponent could not even keep up with.
Alcaraz and Zverev one of the brightest moments of the Roland Garros 2024 final / Sebastian Festo
The wind was certainly starting to become a factor, kicking up dust and creating whirlwinds that altered the trajectory of the ball. In that turbulence, Alcaraz mishit a forehand, unintentionally hitting a home run into the stands and losing serve on the next point.
At 3-2, Zverev held serve to make it 4-2, but in the most precarious moment of the final, Alcaraz came charging in. The Spaniard double-faulted to give up his serve, giving the German a 5-2 lead, who closed out the set 6-2. Zverev won quality points in the set, but what would happen in the third set?
Alcaraz put his frustration aside and regained some semblance of composure and even joy in the match, fending off a break point at 4-2 with a combination of drop shots and backhand passes and looking to take the third set as the wind blew harder and harder on the orange clay.
But Zverev was no longer the player he was at the beginning, the German’s shots were much sharper and his spirit was that of a warrior – a warrior who broke his opponent’s serve again and closed the gap to 5-4.
The final wasn’t good. There were some great points, sure, but both players were erratic: more forehand errors, more home runs from Alcaraz, and a serve back that ended in disaster, when the Spaniard served for a 4-2 advantage before Zverev served for 6-5.
On set point for Zverev, the German tried a high-flying, balloon-like duel to unsettle the wind-swept Alcaraz. He succeeded, taking the set 7-5 in a completely different scenario to the one he had faced just a few minutes earlier.
The German had found himself in a similar situation before, when he led 2-0 against Austrian Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final before serving out the win in the fifth set. Thiem was the winner.
Will the same thing happen in Paris? Will Alcaraz ultimately win?
The Spaniard clenched his fist when he broke serve to go up 2-0 and again when he failed to return a backhand drop shot to go up 4-0. The final was less evenly matched and went into a fifth set.
The fifth set began with a powerful punch from Alcaraz, who had received treatment after feeling discomfort in his foot during a side change.
In that set, Alcaraz displayed the fighting spirit that drives him: With Centre Court almost entirely in shadow and only a sliver of sunlight, he found ways to put his opponent on the defensive, argued with the chair umpire about odd shots and drew boos from a crowd that was heavily in support of the Spaniard.
Alcaraz may not have shone brightly, but he fought, he believed and he even smiled — a stark contrast to the German’s perpetually grumpy and tense demeanor — and the victory that was inscribed on the stadium, “For the Most Persistent,” ultimately fell to him.
Alcaraz makes history at Roland Garros
The Spaniard relied heavily, as always, on his technical team in the stands, which included Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and other players on that crucial afternoon in Paris on June 9, 2024. Ferrero was the last Spaniard to win Roland Garros, in 2003, before Rafael Nadal dominated the tournament.
Twenty-one years later, Alcaraz has taken up the baton from Ferrero, with an eye on what will happen in 2025, when Nadal will likely play at Roland Garros for the last time.
