Doom loomed over Carlos Alcaraz when he had leveled Novak Djokovic in a set and was about to continue a brutal fight on the Philippe Chatrier. With the score tied at one in the third, a bad gesture by the Spaniard in a seemingly anodyne play caused an injury to the calf of his right leg. He decided to stop the match and be treated by the tournament physiotherapist, which, as there was no change of side, cost him the penalty of a game. "You decide, Carlos," chair umpire Aurelie Tourte had warned him. Very touched, already 4-1 down, sitting in his chair, and making use of the allowed truce, he told the physiotherapist that the damage was in both legs. "I'm going to make one last attempt. It's here, here, here and here," he said, pointing to them. "It's incredible, it can't be, it can't be!" he told his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero. Djokovic won 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in three hours and 21 minutes and will meet this Sunday in the final with the winner of the match between Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud. If he wins the title he will achieve the twenty-third major and break the tie with Rafael Nadal.

He finished the set, went to the locker room to continue the treatment and returned to the court. Nothing would ever be the same again. Diminished in his ability to move, far from a physical state that would allow him to face a match of such demand, he was in the hands of Djokovic and the elusive gaze of fate. Once again, the body betrayed Alcaraz, who has suffered five muscle injuries since the latter part of last season. The hamstrings and abdomen have been revealed as very sensitive material. After retiring to Holguer Rune in Paris-Bercy, due to an abdominal problem, he missed the latter part of 2022. When he was ready to reappear and play the Australian Open, he was prevented by an injury to the semimembranous muscle of his right leg. He returned, won the title in Buenos Aires and was injured again against Cameron Norrie in the final in Rio, which prevented him from playing the tournament in Acapulco. Since he successfully rejoined, winning the title in Indian Wells, he had not had any problems and confessed that he felt full physically.

He broke Djokovic in the fourth game. And he did it in the best possible way. He threw a drop and responded to his opponent's backhand with a backhand volley. He raised his fist. I was doing everything I needed. He held Alcaraz with blows always full of content. The Spaniard did not feel his tennis flowing as throughout the tournament.

Two spectacular sets

Part of the luck of the first partial would go through the seventh game, in which Alcaraz had three breaking balls. A missed drop, a rest to the net and a volley from Djokovic allowed the Serb to quell the threat and then ratify the advantage acquired. Nole opened angles on the right of Alcaraz and gained track to look for him later on the other side. The Serbian's backhand was at its best, even more so in its most complicated and effective version, the parallel.

Djokovic had set ball to the rest, but he was wrong with a too conservative rest that came to pass the Murcia with a right volley. He would take advantage of the second, already at the service, but not before Alcaraz enjoyed his fourth option to fail. He left the set without taking advantage of any of them.

The Serbian posed a completely different situation to those that the great favorite had experienced in the two weeks of competition. This time Alcaraz was not going to subdue his rival as he had done in all previous meetings, also against Stefanos Tsitsipas, world number 5 and finalist in 2021. In front of him was an adversary with solutions that no one had found, willing to assert his experience and a lapel adorned with stars. If anyone had doubted Nole, he was there, armed to the teeth, ready to vindicate himself again on an ideal occasion to further magnify his legend.

Alcaraz continued to his own in a very even duel, full of plays celebrated by the public, aware that he was attending one of those games that are remembered for a long time. It did not weigh him to waste three set balls to the rest and see how the partial was equalized to five. He got it two games later.

That's as far as he could play. Then came the unfortunate trance that stopped him almost in his tracks. "I'm sure he'll win many times here," Djokovic said on court.

  • tennis
  • Carlos Alcaraz
  • Novak Djokovic

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