Carlos Alcaraz has denied he was every going to retire from cramp in his enthralling victory over Alexander Zverev in the men’s semi-final after tennis fans noticed a bizarre moment in the match. Alcaraz’s Australian Open tournament nearly turned into a disaster on Friday after the Spaniard was struck down with cramps in the third set.
The 22-year-old was only a couple of games away from advancing to the final – where he will play Novak Djokovic – when his body shut down and he struggled to break out into a sprint as temperatures climbed in Melbourne. This allowed Zverev right back into the match.
Tennis fans thought Carlos Alcaraz (pictured right) was going to retire at the start of the fourth set, but the Spaniard denied this in his post-match press conference. (Images: ESPN/Getty Images)
The World No.3 took the third set. Alcaraz surprised the likes of Jim Courier and the commentators when opted not to leave the court for a change of clothes and soak up more time away from the warm temperatures on Rod Laver Arena.
Alcaraz battled on, but was putting minimal efforts into points as he was unable to sprint. While staying in the match with his powerful groundstrokes, Alcaraz was in a dire situation. And a number of fans thought the Spaniard was retiring after dropping the third set.
Alcaraz and Zverev were switching sides when the Spaniard changed direction and started heading towards the net. This is often a sign an injured player is announcing their retirement.
Zverev then changed his direction and started heading towards the net. “It looked like when they were walked to change sides that maybe Alcaraz was thinking about retiring,” the commentator said on ESPN’s coverage.
But Alcaraz appeared to be avoiding something and instead started heading towards his bench. Alcaraz understood how it may have looked for Zverev and apologised with a gesture. The interaction was extremely brief, but many tennis fans were questioning whether Alcaraz briefly thought about retiring.
Carlos Alcaraz lifts lid on misunderstanding at net
Although the Spaniard has emphatically shut down this suggestion and said he was always going to battle till the end of the match. No, no. I saw the video. I saw people talking about it. But there wasn’t a single second I thought about retiring,” Alcaraz said in his press conference nearly two hours after match point.
Alcaraz clarified it was about who was going to walk past the net and chair umpire first. “It was about, sometimes I let him go through before. There are some moments he lets me go first. So, that video was about who was going to go through first. That is all,” Alcaraz added.
Alcaraz said he only ever believed he was going to advance to the final with Djokovic also winning a five-set epic after the Spaniard’s match. The two are looking to create history in the final with Alcaraz looking to become the youngest male ever to complete a career grand slam. Djokovic is seeking his 11th Australian Open title and 25th grand slam at 38 years old.
Carlos Alcaraz (pictured) defeated Alexander Zverev after five hours and 27 minutes.
(MARTIN KEEP via Getty Images)