Alcaraz vs Zverev: Roland Garros Final Recap

joy in suffering — the serve toss — forehands — genius

Carlos Alcaraz stormed back to defeat Alexander Zverev 6/3 2/6 5/7 6/1 6/2 in the final of Roland Garros on Sunday to claim his third grand slam title (US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023). Alcaraz is the youngest ever player to win three slams across three different surfaces — grass, hard, and now clay. The Spaniard will return to world #2 on Monday, behind his young Italian rival, Jannik Sinner, who debuts at #1. It represents a new world order, as the Big-3 slowly unfurls its grip on men’s tennis.

Following his tense five-set semifinal win over Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz spoke about “finding the joy in suffering”. It was a very Spanish answer, having absorbed Nadal’s humble post-match meditations for twenty years, but one you felt was a true reflection of his mentality; how else to explain an 11-1 record in deciding fifth sets?¹

Today was no different.

While not a match of high quality throughout, Sunday’s final was a probing and cagey affair, such is the style of Zverev, who’s albatross limbs and patient tempo force opponents into a muddy baseline wrestle, should they manage to return his high-speed — and high-percentage — first serve. It has proven an effective strategy for all but the very best, who can expose the German’s passive forehand in the biggest moments.

Given this, I felt this match would be decided by the forehands of both: could Alcaraz find the delicate balance between destructive and self-destructive? Could Zverev contain his errors and redirect traffic into his superior backhand patterns?

Alcaraz creates a huge amount of leverage in the racquet head as he starts to unwind his torso, sending the racquet flying backwards until the arm straightens and the Babolat frame gets catapulted forward with incredible speed. Zverev, in contrast, has deleveraged the racquet but lifted the elbow. This ensures the racquet stays more on the hitting-side — a common teaching point in tennis — but coupled with the German’s flexed wrist, I feel there are more moving parts doing less efficient work.

Forehands aside, the good news for the German is that he owns one of — if not the best on clay — backhands on tour. In contrast to his forehand, the racquet is taken up high and straight, the left elbow drawn deep as an archer loads his bow, before dropping and uncoiling with unshakeable efficiency. Coupled with his 6’6’’ frame, it’s the perfect shield for modern clay tennis. Compare to Alcaraz’s lower and more compact backswing.

Alcaraz sets up lower and outside his hands and uses a dynamic flip of the racquet head. This shorter outside swing perhaps makes it easier for the Spaniard to play close to the baseline and attack balls early, but must surely suffer with timing compared to the longer one-piece swing of Zverev.

You can see how violent Alcaraz’s backhand lags from outside to inside, before moving forward. I consider that swing ‘noisier’ than the fuller backswings of Djokovic, Zverev, and Medvedev. Perhaps racquet weight is a factor; Carlos uses a very light frame, and maybe this is the only way he can generate speed with a compact swing. Either way, look how still that head is through contact! As I wrote at the start of the tournament:

“Alcaraz plays with a degree of bodily dissociation that borders on the inhuman. He is reminiscent of Federer in this regard; the head hovers in falcon-esque composure while the body corkscrews, sending arms tracing long arcs as the legs scissor in rapid efficiency underneath him like some elaborate timepiece.”

But we were talking about Zverev before that backhand detour, and perhaps the most important aspect of the German’s resurgence these past years has been something as innocuous and overlooked as his ball toss. Some years ago Zverev had essentially caught a case of the yips on serve; the ace rate dropped and the double faults tallied. Matt Willis posted this below graphic on twitter, alongside some first-serve % and double-fault % stats. As predictably as the toss lowered, the serving numbers improved.

A lower toss is more immune to the effects of the wind, but it has a host of technical benefits: (a) easier to replicate; (b) the ball is dropping slower — or nearly not at all if you are perfect like Kyrgios — through your contact point; (c) It’s easier to disguise your intention with the serve; and (d) it can promote a faster swing into contact.

However, a grand slam final is enough to fluster any shot, and Zverev started the slower of the two, double faulting twice to open his account, and overall struggling to find his range and rhythm, in part due to Alcaraz’s early tactic of playing more patient into the forehand wing of the German; a tactic that was missing from his Australian Open loss earlier this year.

It was also windy AF, making it all the more difficult to find the sweet spot among the sandstorm.

And with this wind Alcaraz was conjuring shots of great heights and spins, mixing in slice backhands down the line, and overall looking the more comfortable of the two. The first set was wrapped up with a sharply angled forehand winner that had me thinking this could be a blowout — a result that had occurred in Alcaraz’s last four wins, despite Zverev leading the H2H 5-4 coming into the final.

But in the second Zverev found his best level, adjusting to the heavier ball from Alcaraz, and returning it with equal vigour with his own forehand. There were patches here where one was reminded how good he could be if the forehand was always like this.

At this stage in the match Alcaraz had been returning from a deep position and taking a huge cut at the ball whenever he could catch it in time. As I have written previously, I don’t think anyone has ever been so comfortable playing tennis on such a wide swath of real estate. He is Nadal, Agassi, and McEnroe transfigured. And he’s only 21.

As sick as that point is, it only counts for one (which Zverev won with a great crosscourt flick). But such a scoring system has never stopped the Spaniard from chasing victory and aesthetics in equal measure:

“Obviously, I want to win every match that I play, but at the same time, I want to have fun, try different things, make the people enjoy watching tennis and watching my matches. Sometimes I talk to myself about what is most important: if I win or doing great things.”

— I found this quote of Alcaraz from

Ben Wylie

’s

Plot the Ball

Substack, which I only stumbled upon while writing this piece.

The good news for tennis is that he is winning whilst doing great things.

But it wasn’t always easy. In fact, for much of this match it looked as though Zverev’s baseline discipline was going to unravel Alcaraz, who again had issues with cramp that required vials of pickle juice to stave off. Furthermore, the intensity and shot speed of Alcaraz seemed to wane in late stages. Whether that was intentional I am not sure; taking the speed out of the ball has always been a good strategy against Zverev, who struggles to create his own pace.

But tennis is often about who plays well in the big moments, or more accurately, what plays well. For Zverev, it is the backhand. For Alcaraz, the forehand.

I took no notes in the fourth set except to post that point. It was one way traffic for Carlos.

There was a crucial game in the fifth set, with Alcaraz up a break 2-1 but serving at 0-40. An overrule from the chair umpire came at 15-40 on what would have been a double fault to give Zverev the break back, but eventually this ended up allowing Alcaraz to escape with a hold. It’s impossible to say what the right call is, given HawkEye had the ball 2 millimetres out, but the system has an error-range of 3.6 millimetres. Next year Roland Garros has announced that HawkEye line-calling will be introduced. That is little consolation for Zverev, who now leaves Paris with another five-set defeat in the second grand slam of the year (the German lost a five-set epic to Medvedev at the AO).

Late in the match Alcaraz hit a shot that must have given the Coupe engraver enough confidence to start the etching: a one-handed flick backhand pass that kissed the tape as it sailed past Zverev, who could only look on with disbelief.

Schopenhauer’s quote comes to mind:

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.”

A look at the rap sheet had one decisive stat: break points converted. Alcaraz was ice cold.

“In the fifth set of the final is the time to give it all, fight until you can’t fight anymore. That’s what makes you a warrior, and I consider myself a warrior.”

— Carlos Alcaraz

That’s all I’ve got until I finish this damn thesis.

I’ll see you in the comments. HC.

1. the lone loss came against Matteo Berrettini at the 2022 Australian Open; and 7-6 in the fifth set, no less.