Carlos Alcaraz achieves what Federer, Nadal, Djokovic couldn't, beats Alexander Zverev in French Open final to win 1st 3 Slams on 3 different surfaces
Carlos Alcaraz won his maiden French Open title on Sunday, taking down Alexander Zverev in the final of the 2024 edition. With the win, the Spaniard completed the Surface Slam -- winning a Major on all three surfaces.
Alcaraz started on the front foot, breaking in the opening game to go 1-0 up. Although Zverev had recouped the break, the Spaniard stuck again to take a 4-2 lead, playing some measured and patient tennis. He consolidated that with a third break of serve in the set, taking it 6-3.
In the second set, Alcaraz survived in his opening service game, saving three break points despite being 40-0 up. At 2-2, Alexander Zverev managed the first break of serve. After consolidating for 4-2, the 27-year-old broke again to take the set 6-2.
The third set started with Zverev turning on the aggression even more and threatened to break Alcaraz's serve while serving brilliantly. At 2-3, though, the World No. 3 took the lead against the run of play, breaking Zverev to love to go 4-2 up.
On the next service game, the Spaniard was in trouble but saved three break points to consolidate the break for 5-2. Then, in a remarkable turnaround, Zverev won four games in a row to make it 6-5 to serve for the set. Although Alcaraz saved the first set point, the German World No. 4 converted the second to take the set 7-5 and move within one set of winning his first Grand Slam title.
In the fourth set, Carlos Alcaraz came out spitting fire right off the blocks, breaking early with an aggressive display of tennis to take a 3-0 lead. Although he broke again to go 4-0 in front, Zverev responded by getting one break back.
At 4-1, Alcaraz opted to have a small medical timeout, with the physios hurrying on court to help the World No. 3 with issues in his legs. Despite the physical concerns, the 21-year-old went on to win the next two games to grab the set 6-1 and force a decider.
With a one-set shootout for the French Open title to play for, the duo shared the first two games at 1-1. Alcaraz, slowly getting more confident on his groundstrokes, drew first blood, breaking the German to 15 to take a 2-1 lead.
He then staved off three break points to go 3-1 up after a 10-minute service game to consolidate the break. The Spaniard broke Zverev again to go up 5-2, wrapping up the set 6-2 after four hours and 20 minutes of play under the sun in Paris.
Carlos Alcaraz has now won his first three Slams on three different surfaces, having won the 2022 US Open on hardcourt and 2023 Wimbledon on grass before today. In doing so, he achieved something even Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could not do.
Federer's first three Majors came at the 2003 Wimbledon, the 2004 Australian Open and 2004 Wimbledon. For Nadal, his first four Major titles came at the French Open, from 2005 to 2008. Djokovic, meanwhole, won his first two Grand Slams at the Australian Open (2008 and 2011) and his third at Wimbledon (2011).
Carlos Alcaraz to rise to World No. 2 after French Open triumph
Thanks to his title run at the 2024 French Open, Carlos Alcaraz will become the new World No. 2 on Monday. Jannik Sinner, who lost in the semifinals to Alcaraz on Friday, will ascend to World No. 1, the first Italian to do so.
Current No. 1 Novak Djokovic will move down to World No. 3. The Serb reached the quarterfinals but withdrew ahead of the clash with Casper Ruud with a knee injury. He has since undergone surgery and is expected to even miss Wimbledon next month.