Seldom have tennis world seen Carlos Alcaraz fuming in a match situation. But in the last two weeks, during the North American hardcourt swing, Alcaraz was witnessed twice in never-seen-moments of absolute fury. While the first occurred in in the previous week during his shock early exit in Canadian Open, in the match against Tommy Paul, the second happened on Sunday night during the Cincinnati Open final against Novak Djokovic, en route to his 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-6(4) defeat.
The world No. 1 was in complete control in the match after leading by a set and a break, standing just two holds away from a fifth Masters 1000 title of his career and third for the season. And with Djokovic struggling in extreme heat in Cincinnati, Alcaraz looked favourite to capitalise on it. But one sloppy service game from the top seed saw the momentum of the match changing. Djokovic stormed back in supreme fashion before saving a championship point in the second set tie-break to force a decider.
It was right then, after the end of the second set, when Alcaraz was seen loosing his cool as he repeatedly whacked the armrest next to his bench with his right hand in sheer frustration at missing out on the big opportunity. Alcaraz was then forced to call for a medical time-out as the had injured his right hand as an ATP physiotherapist was called in.
Alcaraz did not refuse to go down against Djokovic, who was suddenly playing his best ever tennis as he bounced back to get the break back in the final set and then saved four championship points himself to force a tie-break. But the Serb held his nerves to in the decider to lift his third Cincinnati Open title.
“I feel proud of myself, honestly. I [was] talking and I don’t know why I was crying because I fought until the last ball. I almost beat one of the greatest of all time from our sport,” Alcaraz said in his press conference. “It’s crazy to talk about it right now, but I left the court really, really happy [with] what I did.”
Despite the loss, Alcaraz does walk out of Ohio still ranked as the world No. 1, but with Djokovic only standing inches away from reclaiming the crown as they now head to US Open where the Spaniard will be defending his title.
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