We Were Depressingly Robbed Of An Epic French Open Match Between Novak Djokovic And Carlos Alcaraz Because The 20 Year Old's Body Wouldn't Stop Cramping
Well, that was a bummer. Like come on man, we had ourselves an epic match in front of us with an expected crazy level being played by both sides and it's gotta all get ruined because of cramping? Fucking brutal.
Crazy enough Andy Roddick was able to see this coming despite watching from home.
A few minutes later in the early stages of the 3rd set Carlos' entire body began cramping. It started with his right hand not able to grip the racket and then a point later he couldn't move at all.
Two years ago Roddick was watching a Novak match and said, “first he takes your legs… then he takes your soul.” Seems Novak is taking that compliment a bit too seriously these days, leaving Carlos practically disabled out there.
The Spaniard tried to work through it, receiving treatment during every changeover, but at that point it was a lost cause with how much tennis needed to be played.
Maybe if it was the final set with just a few games to go he could have gathered himself and pushed, but knotted up at 1-1 like that, no shot he was holding a candle to Djokovic. The Serbian locked in and cruised to a 4 set laugher after an extremely tight opening two sets.
Kyrgios chimed in, relating to the nerves, anxiety, and excitement of the moment getting to Alcaraz.
Carlos had a similar issue back in the Miami Open. Listen he's 20 years old, he'll learn what went wrong here, better prepare his body, and hopefully put this behind him. If I remember correctly LeBron dealt with a huge cramping problem early on in his career. Such an annoying thing to derail a huge sports moment, but it happens.
Gotta give credit to the 36 year old Djokovic for his pristine, unmatched physical fitness. Some of the best parts of his game are his endurance and mental game. No moment is too much for that guy and he never goes away. Guy has played in 70 grand slam tournaments and made the finals in 34 of them. He's won 20 of his last 21 slam semifinals. The guy is unbelievable. Carlos was very capable of taking him down today, but you gotta be able to maintain and manage the intensity of that kind of moment. Sigh.
Well, we'll always have those first two sets I guess.
Should have been 2+ hours more of this. Goddammit. Record slam number 23 is practically in Novak's arms with either Ruud or Zverev facing him on Sunday.