Carlos Alcaraz becomes the clay-court champion that he—and we—always knew was possible

The first time Carlos Alcaraz looked ready to win on Sunday, he started losing it instead.

The 21-year-old Spaniard was serving at 5-3 in the third set for a two-set-to-one lead over Alexander Zverev. He had taken a punch from the German in the second set, but got off the mat in the third, dug deeper into his bag of crowd-pleasing tricks, and sprinted back to another lead. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he stumbled. Or, to be more precise, he panicked.

Alcaraz was too casual on a couple of volleys and missed them. He began to shank his forehand wildly, and quickly seemed to lose all confidence in his ground strokes. He was broken twice. Rather than refocusing, he spent one changeover complaining about bad bounces, and the lack of clay on the court, to the chair umpire. “It’s unbelievable,” Alcaraz said in a rare, and irrational, outburst. With Zverev serving at 6-5, Alcaraz sent another wild backhand long to go down 30-0. He was about to throw away the lead, and, possibly, a chance at his first Roland Garros title.

I know that when I’m playing a fifth set you have to give everything and you have to give your heart. —Carlos Alcaraz

Maybe it was having his mentor, Juan Carlos Ferrero, nearby. Maybe it was the realization that he was actually behind in the score for the first time. Maybe it was the realization that the match wasn’t going to be moved to a different court, and he’d have to make do with this one. Whatever the reason, Alcaraz regained his cool as quickly as he had lost it. His swing was calmer, his balance was better, his shot choices were smarter—particularly the moon balls he began to use to push Zverev back—and his forehand shanks turned back into winners. Alcaraz couldn’t quite rescue the set, but according to him, it was in that game that he rescued the title.

“At the end of the third set I had a lot of doubts,” Alcaraz admitted to NBC’s Maria Taylor. “In the second and third sets he increased his level a lot, and I stayed at the same level. I couldn’t manage the nerves as well as he did.”

“The last game of the third set helped me understand how I have to play.”

He needed to play, as another Spanish champion at Roland Garros would have put it, “with calm.” He needed to build points without taking as many risks. He needed to use his kick serve and his body serve, and follow them to net when the opportunity was there. He needed to put more air under his backhand and not give Zverev as many balls in his strike zone. In short, Alcaraz needed to use everything that makes him a special player, and elevates him above the rest of his competition. Most of all, he needed to remember he was that special player.

Alcaraz did all of those things over the last two sets, and he finally shook Zverev off in the process. There were some tight moments—including a crucial out call on a Zverev serve that Hawk-Eye disagreed with. There were some long games. There were some more iffy choices and shaky moments. But now Alcaraz was in command—of himself and the rallies. He rifled a one-handed crosscourt backhand pass, while sliding the other way, and drew a stare from Zverev. He flicked a reflex squash shot crosscourt that left Zverev standing in disbelief.

Most important, though, when it got tight in the fifth, Alcaraz made the right, proactive play. Serving at 3-2, he lost a long rally and went down break point. Realizing, perhaps, that he wasn’t fully confident from the baseline at that moment, he raced to net behind his serve instead, and knocked off a forehand volley winner to get back to deuce. The final crisis had been averted, and Alcaraz was home free. His 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 win gave him his third Grand Slam title, on a third surface. It also improved his record in five-set matches to 11-1.

Asked about that success, Alcaraz said he knows fifth sets are where champions are made, and he does his best to hit the mental reset button when he gets to one.

“I know that when I’m playing a fifth set you have to give everything and you have to give your heart,” he said. “In those moments, it’s where the top players give their best tennis.”

“So as I said many times, I wanted to be one of the best tennis players in the world, so I have to give extra in those moments in the fifth set, I have to show the opponent that I’m fresh, I’m like we are playing the first game of the match.”

Two statistics stand out. Alcaraz won 66 percent of points on Zverev’s second serve, and he broke the 6-foot-6 ace machine nine times.

“On my serve I didn’t get the power from my legs anymore, which is weird,” Zverev said of his dip in the last two sets. “Because normally I do not get tired. I don’t cramp, I don't get tired normally. But again, against Carlos it’s a different intensity.”

Alcaraz’s win on Sunday was similar to his semifinal win over Jannik Sinner on Friday. Both times he looked ready to win the third set; both times he squandered that chance; and both times he left his disappointment behind him right away and found his best tennis over the last two sets. Alcaraz has always had his peaks and valleys during matches, but in Paris this year there was a self-assurance that came over him when needed it. The tenser the match was, the calmer he became.

“Knowing all the Spanish players who have won this tournament, and [to] be able to put my name on that amazing list is something unbelievable,” Alcaraz said. “Something that I dream about being in this position since I was started playing tennis, since I was five, six years old.”

Because of that Spanish legacy, as well his natural skills on clay, a lot of us assumed Roland Garros would be where Alcaraz would dominate. Instead, he won the US Open and Wimbledon first. In that sense, over the past fortnight, he fulfilled his original potential. In the way he gathered himself in the semifinal and final, and confidently raced past his opponents in the fifth set, Alcaraz looked like a young man becoming the player that he—and we—always knew he could be.