"A joy" - Carlos Alcaraz earns comparisons to Rafael Nadal from Paul McNamee after French Open 2R
Carlos Alcaraz survived a scare at the 2024 French Open as Jesper De Jong gave him a tough fight in the second round. The Spaniard made several mistakes but brilliantly controlled the match at the end to cross the line after four sets. He impressed Paul McNamee and reminded him of Rafael Nadal on clay.
A right forearm injury has been troubling Alcaraz throughout this season. Before the French Open, he was still unsure if he had recovered 100%. However, after his 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win over J.J. Wolf in the first round of the tournament, Alcaraz said that he was feeling completely recovered.
On Wednesday, May 29, in the second-round match against 23-year-old Dutchman De Jong, Alcaraz won the first two sets 6-3, 6-4 without much fuss. However, the third seed lost the third set 6-2. In the fourth set, De Jong was up 2-1 but Alcaraz controlled play well and won five games in a row to advance into the third round.
In the three-hour nine-minute match, Alcaraz made 47 unforced errors and 26 of those were on his forehand. Former Australian player McNamee admitted the Spaniard made mistakes, but his forehands reminded him of Nadal on the famed Court Philippe-Chatrier.
"A joy watching Alcaraz on Chatrier… yes he’s making errors, but his King forehand is by far the dominant shot on the court… reminds me of another Spaniard on clay … up 52 in the 4th," McNamee wrote on his X account.
Carlos Alcaraz believes ranking does not matter on the court as Jesper De Jong pushed him hard during French Open 2024 2R
The match between Carlos Alcaraz and Jesper De Jong was the Dutchman's fourth Grand Slam main draw match. He is ranked 176 and was up against the World No. 3, but the 23-year-old proved to the Spaniard that ranking does not matter.
"As I've said many, many times, in these tournaments, every player can put you in trouble. You have to be really focused in every point, in every round," Alcaraz said during his post-match interview.
I'm at the top of the rankings, facing someone outside the top 100, you have to think that you should play at your best to get through. Jesper showed it doesn’t matter about rankings. What matters is the work and I'm sure he's going to break the top 100," he added.
On Wednesday, May 29, Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the third round of the French Open as he was playing under the roof of the Court Philippe-Chatrier. However, a majority of the matches scheduled to take place on the outside courts were postponed due to rain.