It didn’t start well for Alcaraz. Down 0-1, he ran so hard to track down a drop shot that he broke his shoes. When he lost the next point to go down 0-3, it looked like he had lost the match, too.
But instead of appearing distraught or angry, Alcaraz looked to his coaching box and nodded his head calmly and confidently. Even the fact that Sinner had won 18 of his last 19 tiebreakers didn’t faze him.
“I never lost hope,” Alcaraz said. “Honestly I knew that every tiebreak Jannik plays is almost to his side. I thought that in the third set, I’m not going to lie, three-love down, two mini breaks for him. So I didn’t lose hope, but I thought, ‘OK, I have to give everything that I have just to try to give myself the opportunity to be close.’”
From there, Alcaraz showed why he had won two Grand Slam titles, and had a 2-0 record against Sinner, in 2024. He also reminded us that he can take his game to places that no one, including Sinner, can follow.
