It’s already a classic. The German Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz’s rival in the Roland Garros final, It is the rival that the Spaniard faced the most times in his professional career -nine games- and also against the one who lost the most times -five-.
However, the one from Hamburg lost in their last confrontation and in the only final in which they met, that of the Madrid Masters 1000 in 2022.
The face to face between Alcaraz, 21 years old and No. 3 in the world, and Zverev, 27 and 4th, shows a 5-4 in favor of the German and in Grand Slam duels, a 2-1, but they only fought for a title in that Madrid tournament.
He tenth The duel between the two continues a rivalry that began in the first round of the ATP 500 in Acapulco in 2021, when Zverev beat an Alcaraz who was then barely 17 years old by 3-6 and 1-6. Also that year they met in the semifinals of the ATP 500 in Vienna and the German continued to show himself superior with a double 3-6.
It continued with two matches in May 2022. In the first of them there was a title at stake and it was won by Alcaraz in Madrid. The 1-3 in this particular duel with Alcaraz was put by Zverev in his favor in the round of 16 at Roland Garros in 2022 (4-6, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-7 (7)).
The Spaniard took revenge with two wins in a row: in the quarterfinals of the 2023 United States Open, a tournament that he ended up winning and in whose penultimate round he won 6-3, 6-2 and 6-4, and in the round of 16 in Madrid in 2023 by 6-1 and 6-2.
That same season the Palmar native closed by making his debut in the Masters Cup, the Nitto ATP Finals, against him with a defeat in the Italian city of Turin by 7-6 (3), 3-6 and 4-6.
Last January, in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the German won 1-6, 3-6, 7-6 (2) and 4-6 and in March Alcaraz retaliated by winning in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters 1,000 6-3 and 6-1.
In three of the four tournaments in which the Spaniard defeated the German he ended up lifting the trophy -Madrid 2002 and 2023 and Indian Wells 2023- and he only did not do so at last year’s US Openin which he lost in the semifinals with the Russian Daniil Medvedev by 6-7 (3), 1-6, 6-3 and 3-6.
All Roland Garros activity can be followed LIVE on ESPN and STAR+.
