One of the truisms of tennis is to pay close attention to what a player does under pressure, when they really need a point.
Carlos Alcaraz was fighting to get out of crucial break point danger all afternoon, and never again in the fourth game of the fifth set, when he fell 0-40 after securing what appeared to be the deciding break and that it was four games from the finish line. He climbed out of that hole with help from a faltering Zverev, then finally got a game point of his own.
Alcaraz fired a serve to Zverev’s backhand and when the return came back to him, he didn’t try to put a ball through the back wall. He took a drop shot towards the front of the court. Zverev didn’t bother to run.
He did it again in the last match at 15-15. It worked.
GO FURTHER
Roland Garros final analysis: Carlos Alcaraz defeats Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros
