Carlos Alcaraz (No. 3 in the ATP ranking) He arrived in Paris with more doubts than certainties. However, despite the physical ailments that had prevented him from performing on the clay tour, His fighting spirit and hunger for glory guided him to the grand final of Roland Garros. The path he went through towards the definition.
He began the European tour on clay by withdrawing from the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000 due to discomfort in his right forearm. Later, after a few days of recovery, he debuted at the Madrid Open, winning a few matches before losing surprisingly in the quarterfinals to Andrey Rublev, eventual champion of the tournament. Then, the outlook became cloudy again when he made his retirement from Rome official on the eve of his arrival at Roland Garros.
He began his journey without problems, defeating the American in straight partials. JJ Wolf 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 after almost two hours on the court.
The Dutch Jesper de Jongin the second round, forced him a little more until he took a set but it was not enough to stop his progress on French soil: 6-3, 6-4, 2-6 and 6-2 in 3 hours and 9 minutes.
Then he found the fast path by defeating Sebastian Korda, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas without too many setbacks and in consecutive heats. 6-4, 7-6 (5) and 6-3 over the American in 2 hours and 39 minutes, 6-3, 6-3 and 6-1 against the Canadian after 2 hours and 20 minutes, and 6-3 , 7-6 (3) and 6-4 against the Greek in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
In the semifinals came the litmus test against the best player of the season: Jannik Sinner. The Italian, who with the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic from Roland Garros, debuted as number one in the world, was a favorite for the title but Alcaraz grew stronger and ended up winning the match 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6 -4 and 6-3 after 4 hours and 9 minutes.
In this way, he qualified for his first final at Roland Garros and third Grand Slam after the conquests at the US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023. There he will fight for the title with Alexander Zverev.
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