MELBOURNE – The best players in tennis eagerly wait for each other like gunfighters on a dusty main street in old Westerns. They want to duel, they ache for the contest. How good they are at their craft is only confirmed by who they beat on important days. And so we can say that Alexander Zverev, the sixth seed, confirmed he is a player of high quality because of who he felled on Jan 24 night and how he did it.
In a quarter-final match that kept shifting shape, one moment one-sided, the next a blistering duel, Zverev lost his game briefly but eventually never his nerve. He led the second seed Carlos Alcaraz by two sets to love and 5-3, started thinking too much, lost the third set but finally prevailed 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4. Masterpiece it wasn’t, magnificent it absolutely was.
After three hours and five minutes, Alcaraz had not lost his smile as he exited but the German’s grin was bigger. He apologised for talking too much to the crowd but explained, “I’m excited.” Of course he was. He first outplayed the Spaniard and then later outfought him. Two great feats on a single night. Not bad when your toenails are filling with blood.
Both men arrived on court just past 10pm, far too late a start for such a match but at the Open dollars beats sense every time. The night was late, but the court was full. Alcaraz is good at filling seats and was met with an ovation. The crowd had declared it had taken sides before the first shots, whereupon Zverev, without a word, simply produced the best shots. He won eight of the first nine points and 12 of the first 14.
Boys shouted “Carlitos” and “Let’s go Carlos, let’s go” became a chant. The only person it roused was Zverev. His tennis was what players wait for, that rare day when racket, ball, mind, feet find a perfect synchronicity. Zone is the word for it. If Alcaraz won 50 per cent of first-serve points in the first set, Zverev won 88 per cent. If the Spaniard hit 21 unforced errors in the first two sets, the German made a measly nine. This wasn’t a contest, it resembled a rout.
Like a minor shockwave, a murmur rippled across the crowd. Alcaraz was the favourite, but Zverev likes to play him. Sometimes one man’s playing style simply fits another’s. In eight meetings, he has now beaten the Spaniard five times and twice at Grand Slams. The scoreline in parts was a surprise, the result not a fluke.
A Spanish fan wore his flag as a cape, but his hero wasn’t flying. For most of the match, the 20-year-old Alcaraz resembled those old motor cars. On a cool night, he was taking too long to start up. His battery looked flat and his smile lacked its beam. Every day it’s not easy to find your best, which is why Novak Djokovic is an anomaly.
Instead of dynamic, Alcaraz looked rushed, instead of confident he appeared imprecise. He did not get enough first serves into play, flirted too heavily with error and was imperfect with his drop shots. But since “fight” is the first word in the Spanish vocabulary, he refused to exit half-heartedly.
At 5-3 in the third set, victory one nail in the coffin away, Zverev stalled. One moment he was all flowing instinct, next moment his brain was overheating. “Carlos is one of the best players in the world,” explained the German. “You start thinking. We’re all human. You’re so close to winning your brain starts going. It’s not always helpful.”
Alcaraz saw a chance and he held it like it was a lifeline. He broke Zverev in the third set, pulled him into a tiebreak, went down a mini-break, hit two glinting forehand cross-court winners and suddenly had a set, 7-6 (7-2), in his pocket. He waved his racket. Zverev looked like a slightly spent bee, his shots carrying less buzz and little sting.
Alcaraz had seized a weapon of last resort: Pride. Now he had woken up, now he had the momentum, now surely he’d remind everyone who he is. But in a fourth set where he hit the ball cleanly and bullied Zverev in rallies, he was the one who finally broke.
Zverev now meets Daniil Medvedev and Alcaraz must again meet hard truths. On a magical Sunday in July, he held off Djokovic to win Wimbledon and has inexplicably not won a tournament since. He lost in the US Open semi-finals in four sets to Medvedev, fell in straight sets to Djokovic in the ATP Finals and now this. Panic? Nope. Just a 20-year-old overachiever having an overdue plateau.
In the interview room, Alcaraz did what he does on court. Never flinches. He acknowledged his ups and downs, wished he’d started better, clutched onto positives and sighed “It’s tennis”. He loves this game intensely and even though his Open is done, he is not done with the Open. “I am going to watch the matches, of course,” he said. Maybe even of the man who has sent him home.
