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Spain’s Alcaraz beats Zverev to win first French Open title

21-year-old Spanish tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz fought back to defeat Alexander Zverev in a five-set French Open final on Sunday and become the youngest man to win Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces.

Published: 9 June 2024 20:31 CEST
Spain's Alcaraz beats Zverev to win first French Open title
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz celebrates after winning his men's singles final match against Germany's Alexander Zverev on Court Philippe-Chatrier on day fifteen of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros Complex in Paris on June 9, 2024. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)

The young Murcian battled cramps to recover from 2-1 down in sets and win a gripping contest 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 after four hours and 19 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.

“I was running when I finished school to put the TV on just to watch this tournament and now I’m lifting the trophy in front of all of you, so thank you very much for everything,” an emotional Alcaraz said to his family watching on.

Alcaraz adds the Roland Garros crown to the Wimbledon title he won against Novak Djokovic last year and the 2022 US Open.

He will head to the Australian Open next year with the chance to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.

Fourth seed Zverev, who settled a court case in Germany two days ago over domestic abuse allegations, is still waiting for a maiden major title.

He had also lost his only previous Slam final in five sets, when he blew a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open.

Zverev had high hopes of finally getting over the line — he has also lost six Slam semi-finals — but Alcaraz was too strong in the key moments as he levelled their head-to-head record at 5-5.

“It’s been amazing. The atmosphere, the support has been amazing,” said the 27-year-old.

Alcaraz said before the final he wanted to join the list of men’s players from his country, including his idol Rafael Nadal, to win the Roland Garros title, and he celebrated becoming the eighth Spanish champion by falling to the clay with his head in his hands in disbelief.

“Congratulations Carlos for this immense victory! Wonderful! Very happy for your successes! Vamos,” tweeted Nadal.

Zverev’s nervy start

Zverev endured a miserable start, double-faulting on the first two points of the match en route to being broken in the opening game.

But Alcaraz was not immune to the nerves of a maiden French Open final, framing a regulation forehand into the stands and then also double-faulting as he gifted the break straight back.

The Spaniard did not take too long to find his groove, though, breaking to love in the fifth game on his way to pocketing the opener.

The youngster had to save three break points to hold in a 10-minute first game of the second set, but slipped 3-2 behind when he failed to stave off two more break points as another forehand sailed into the crowd.

Suddenly Zverev had a spring in his step and Alcaraz was reduced to scrambling at the back of the court, falling a double-break down with a double-fault.

Zverev wrapped up an ultimately one-sided second set with a hold to love.

The German made it three successive love holds with two more early in the third set, before Alcaraz celebrated coming out of a tricky service game unscathed with a fist pump as he edged 3-2 ahead, despite having been largely on the back foot.

Serving into an increasingly strong breeze, Zverev was caught out by an Alcaraz return that crept over the net and the Spaniard went on to grab a break to love.

But he could not serve out the set as a rasping Zverev passing shot secured a break back.

That failure to take control of the match seemed to temporarily break Alcaraz’s spirit, as he ended up losing five games on the spin to concede the set.

Crucial line call saves Alcaraz

Alcaraz would not go down without a fight, though, breaking for a 2-0 advantage in the fourth with a magnificent curling winner on the run.

Just seconds before, Zverev had been angrily disputing a line call which was clearly correct, drawing jeers from the crowd.

The German was rattled and his serve started to desert him, with Alcaraz racing through the fourth set to force a decider despite having to take a medical time-out to have treatment for apparent cramp at 4-1.

Zverev had won 10 of his previous 11 five-setters at Roland Garros but handed Alcaraz a break on a platter in the third game of the fifth.

Alcaraz stuttered himself, falling 0-40 down in the next game.

He appeared to have double-faulted on the second break point, but the chair umpire overruled the line judge’s call of out, despite Zverev’s angry protests, before Hawkeye replays showed it was out.

Alcaraz went on to hold and it proved to be a pivotal moment in the match.

Zverev fell a double-break down in game seven as Alcaraz delighted the fans with an outrageous flicked winner before crushing a forehand onto the line.

He wrapped up a historic victory with a booming forehand that Zverev could not get back.

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

LISTED: Spain’s medal hopes at the Paris 2024 Olympics

After a big summer of sporting success so far, Spain will be hoping to carry that momentum into the Olympic Games in Paris. These are the Spanish athletes and sports stars to look out for at the Games.

Published: 24 July 2024 10:22 CEST
Updated: 27 July 2024 07:46 CEST
LISTED: Spain's medal hopes at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Spain is heading into the Paris 2024 Olympics with some pretty serious sporting momentum. Not only did the football team just unexpectedly win the Euros with a perfect 7/7 winning record, but tennis star Carlos Alcaraz also won his second successive Wimbledon title on the same day.

READ ALSO: How to watch the Paris 2024 Olympics on TV in Spain

In terms of Olympic success, Spain’s best games so far was in 1992 when Barcelona hosted the games. That year Spain won 22 medals including 13 golds, 7 silvers, and 2 bronzes, a record they haven’t equalled or surpassed yet.

Spain are not historically a track and field powerhouse, nor do they consistently rank among the countries with the most medals at each Games, but they do have amazing sportsmen and women in a very wide variety of sports.

IN DEPTH: Why is Spain so good at sport?

This year’s Olympics could be different for España. So who are Spain’s top sports stars that are expected to deliver at the Paris Games?

Athletics

Spain has a few medal hopefuls in the athletics events, including Jordan Díaz, currently renowned as one of the world’s best triple jumpers, and Mohammad Attaoui, the European championship silver medallist in the 800m earlier this year.

Spanish triple jumper Jordan Alejandro Díaz Fortún won gold at the recent European Athletics Championships in Rome. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)

Speed walkers María Pérez and Álvaro Martín are also names to keep an eye on, having won four World Championship gold medals between them at Budapest 2023.

Of course, there’s also Galician triple jumper Ana Peleteiro, the only Spanish track and field athlete to win a medal at the Tokyo games and current European champion.

Tennis

Everyone in Spain (and perhaps even the wider tennis world) will be rooting for La Roja in the tennis.

It just feels like it’s meant to be: tennis golden boy Carlos Alcaraz teaming up in the doubles with the game’s elder statesman, one of the greatest players of all time, Rafa Nadal, in what could be his swansong on the international stage.

They’ll be going for gold.

Basketball

Spain’s also got high hopes in the basketball, having won four European and two World Championships over the last few years.

The Spanish basketball national team has arguably been the second best national team in the world in the 21st century, winning back-to-back Olympic silver medals in 2008 and 2012 (they lost to the dominant U.S team, which there’s no shame in) and sandwiched between that they won the FIBA World Cup in 2006.

They also won it in 2019. Stopping the U.S will be tough, but if any country can realistically do it, Spain’s one of them.

Spain’s veteran basketballer Rudy Fernández will be part of the 2024 Olympics team. (Photo by JOSE JORDAN / AFP)

Football

Of course, Spaniards will also hope (perhaps expect) that the football teams can continue their momentum into the Olympic games, and Spain seems an obvious candidate for double gold.

The men’s team (which is made up of U-23s plus three senior players) has a safe route semi-final, where they could meet France or Argentina.

The women’s team, which will be made up of senior players (many of whom recently won the World Cup) will also be strong favourites to go deep into the tournament and win a medal.

Spain’s national team are the current Women’s World Cup champions. Photo: Franck Fife/AFP

Golf

Basque golfer Jon Rahm will lead the Spanish team and also be in with a shout of a medal, having been one of the better players on the world tour in recent years. He’s already won a U.S Open title (the first Spaniard to ever do so) and followed it up with a Masters win in 2023.

Basque Jon Rahm is ranked among the best golfers in the world currently. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP)

Swimming

There are also high hopes for Hugo González, the versatile University of California swimmer who has won several collegiate titles in his time in the U.S.

He’s already considered one of the most promising prospects in world swimming, and will be competing in 100m and 200m backstroke, as well as the 200m combined in Paris.

Waterpolo

Spain’s male and female teams will arrive in the French capital with solid medal options after being podium finishers at major international competitions recently.

The men’s team is a strong candidate to win another medal after the gold in Atlanta and the women’s team is hoping to repeat the silver in Tokyo at least.

Badminton

Spain’s Carolina Marín is the best female badminton player in the world. She overcame an almost career-ending ACL injury in 2021 to get back to the top of her game, so a place on the podium is likely.

Marín has won gold and silver at several badminton championships in 2023 and 2024. (Photo by BAY ISMOYO / AFP)

Canoeing

Piragüismo as it’s called in Spanish is the sport that has brought the most Olympic joy to Spain in recent times, both in the sprint and the slalom. Saúl Craviotto is the most successful Spanish Olympic medallist (5) and Maialen Chourraut is a true standard bearer.

Handball

The men’s handball team, which has four Olympic bronze medals to its name, the last in Tokyo, is once again in the running for the podium.

Spain’s men’s handball team won bronze against Egypt at the Tokyo Olympics. (Photo by Franck FIFE / AFP)

Shooting

Fátima Gálvez is emerging as one of the most serious medal hopes of the entire Spanish delegation, as her list of achievements includes numerous medals and European and world titles. Male skeet shooter Alberto Fernández also won this year’s European Championship.

Taekwondo

There are high hopes for Adriana Cerezo, the young woman who won silver in Tokyo at just 17 years old.

Boxing

Spanish boxing has reached the historic milestone of qualifying six boxers for the Games, the highest number since the current system was introduced in Barcelona ’92. They are Enmanuel Reyes Pla (92 kg), José Quiles (57 kg), Ghadfa Drissi (+92 kg), Oier Ibarretxe (63.50 kg), Rafa Lozano (61 kg) and Laura Fernández (50 kg).

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