Aus Open Day 13 - Djokovic vs Alcaraz, for history

0:10Well, hello and welcome to the tennis podcast coming to you from Garden Square at 2.20 in the morning after a day that has delivered all the drama that we've been desperately craving for the last 12 days and more. Quite frankly, it turns out it was coming. It was just all coming on one bonkers day. First of all, a Shakespearean five hour, 27 minute semifinal between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, the longest in Australian Open history, won by, to quote Daniel Medvedev, the famous Carlos Alcaraz, followed impossibly this evening by 38-year-old Novak Djokovic defying gravity to take out the two-time defending champion Yannick Sinner in five exhilarating sets, the sum of which is a men's singles final on Sunday, which is as narratively delicious as you can imagine.

1:1722-year-old Carlos Alcaraz aiming to become the youngest ever man to complete the career Grand Slam against Novak Djokovic, shooting for the outright Grand Slam record of 25 and to be the oldest major champion in the Open era. So in total, nine hours, 36 minutes of breathless entertainment. Our 12 day long debt has been collected. I feel alive. I feel ruined. I feel like I need a group therapy session. So enter, as always, Matt Roberts, David Law and joining us tonight to help process the madness, the Athletics' Charlie Eccleshare. David your memory goes back the furthest have you ever experienced a single day quite like that Charlie and I were just talking about this trying to remember if we could remember a semi-finals day like this because I think we've had incredible days full of five set drama but certainly off the top of my head I can't remember a semi-finals stay with as many ups and downs and as many significant results conclusions consequences which we're now left with the fact that we're now left with the final between one guy trying for a 25th major singles title a number that nobody's ever reached man or woman in history and we're we're the other fella is trying to become the youngest ever to complete the career grand slam i mean that that doesn't get any better really on paper um and all i would say is well we told you we told you the drama was coming and here we are charlie how many versions of each of your articles do you think you wrote today the so i was covering the first semi-final um al-kraz verev i i must have written like a good few thousand words maybe up to about five thousand words many of which never saw the light of day because they were totally irrelevant i mean it start the first draft was kind of and this seems about three weeks ago but was kind of oh isn't i mean how ludicrous this sounds now just given what order came but it was all about how alcaraz didn't play his a game but he kind of was by his standards winning ugly against vero of those first couple of sets you know it's kind of like and because he'll just motor through the third and this will kind of take care of itself quite nicely you know we'll be back in the media center in no time And then obviously it became the Alcraz pulling out injured because that seemed like a distinct possibility.

4:00And obviously we had to have that kind of ready because that can happen so suddenly, as happened only a couple of days earlier with Mazzetti against Djokovic. And then obviously the match just went in so many different directions. And then, yeah, obviously eventually Alcraz and I got over the line. And if you told me after that match that that wouldn't be our headline match, headline story of the day. Like, we were just discussing this. I would have assumed that Novak Djokovic had retired in his press conference or something. Like, I couldn't really have imagined a scenario where the second match, after those five hours and 27 minutes, ended up feeling like the lead story.

4:44And yet, I think that is the case. Matt, are you OK? I've been worried about you for several hours. I've been worried about me too I had a wretched headache at the end of Alkarez Zverev but people bounced back and god I enjoyed those final couple of sets of Djokovic Sinner and the drama of it and I think that's the most people that have ever still been in a tennis stadium at 1.30 in the morning pushing two like it was packed it was atmospheric Eric. It was, as you said, what we've been waiting for. I feel okay because I'm like, tennis is good. After all these days, like I told you, tennis is good.

5:32That is why we do this. That is why we love it. The people who've really won here are like the tennis casuals who tune in for Grand Slams for the last few days. They'll be thinking like, yeah, this has been a great tournament. This is amazing. Every match I've watched so far has been incredible. They weren't there for the Lorenzo Mazzetti trauma, but Novak Djokovic was. Right, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in a mere four hours and nine minutes tonight for Novak Djokovic. If I sound a bit mealy-mouthed, it's because obviously I'm eating my words right now from last night, from the night before, from a lot of the podcasts that we've recorded this tournament.

6:12I was not expecting clearly what we saw from Novak Djokovic tonight I was expecting this match to look like what we saw in the first set that first set played out how I expected Yannick Sinner wasn't at peak I don't think he was against Ben Shelton in the previous round either but that was okay he didn't need to be I don't quite have the words for what ended up coming after that first set But perhaps you do, David, because you saw it coming, or at least you saw the possibility of it coming. Yes, I thought it felt implausible 24 hours ago, but possible. Based on, well, who we're talking about, really.

6:57This guy has won 10 of these titles, and he's won 24 overall. But it's not just that, it's the manner in which he's done it, and it's the manner of the type of performances I've seen, even in the last 18 months, where it's very occasional, but he can still find that ridiculous level. To quote Grigor Dimitrov at the start of this tournament in Tennis Podcast Meets, that flow state that he found when he was facing Sinner and Two Zets of Love up at Wimbledon. I've seen it in the final of the Olympics, and I've seen it here last year against Al Kraus both times. And if you can produce it against that guy, who's so much younger than you and so incredible, and you can actually outplay him the way that Djokovic was in his 36th, 37th, 38th years, to me it didn't seem impossible that he might find that level again.

7:53The only thing is we hadn't seen him find that level against Yannick Sinner in years. And we were up to five match wins in a row for Sinner, who was going for a record six. Nobody's ever beaten Djokovic six times in a row. And the manner of his game against Djokovic just seemed to handcuff Djokovic. He was doing to Djokovic what Djokovic had been doing to everybody else for two decades. But I just always thought, and I thought we saw snapshots of it in the French Open, which he lost in straight sets, but there were moments when the ball came off the Djokovic racket and troubled Sinner. Not enough of them.

8:30and I just wondered I wondered whether here we might feel that and look it wasn't going that way but suddenly in that fourth set and then particularly in the fifth and this wasn't the best Sinner I don't think I think you summed that up well Catherine I don't think we've seen the best Sinner but it was still a bloody good Sinner who was going for it but Djokovic found absolute peak form in those last two sets and he showed why he's dominated Nadal and Federer in those rivalries. He has a purity off his strings and a movement that ended up putting him on the baseline and Sinner scrambling around the back behind him, wailing away with power but not having much impact because Djokovic was timing everything.

9:22He was numb almost, Djokovic, the way he was playing tonight. Yeah, David said last night, I'll believe he can until he can't, which was a wonderful turn of phrase about Novak Djokovic. I thought we'd seen that he can't. You know, over the last few months, I had taken those matches that he's had against Alcaraz and against Sinner to mean that this is just not going to be possible for him anymore. anymore and you know with the slight caveat that under the lights in Australia has always been the time when he's played his absolute best tennis and it's still an absolute age since he actually lost a night session match here it's crazy these conditions and and and the sting on his shots like when he when he gets going is still there but you know David talks about 18 months ago 12 months ago like to me that's such a long time when you're this late into your 30s like that's that's it's a bigger difference when you're that old than when you're in your mid-20s right like to me just so much time had passed that I didn't think he'd be able to pull this off in this way even with the help he'd had with the draw with the withdrawal and then only having to play two sets against Mazzetti I still thought there might be some physical issues that he would run into and Look, I did think he was struggling a bit physically, but he came on so strong down the stretch.

10:57But what I didn't expect above all was the way he was dictating the game to Yannick Sinner, the way he was pulling the trigger down the line first in the rallies and the way he was playing the match on his terms. And I just didn't think he'd be able to do that against Sinner's movement and Sinner's weight of shot. And there were so many vintage Djokovic moments there, a hold from Love 40 down in that final set, roars and picking out people in the crowd and getting them on side. It was all the stuff that has just made him the greatest male player of all time. And this might be one of his best, well, it is definitely one of his best ever wins.

11:44It's staggering. I actually think, yeah, it was both vintage, but also new. I can rarely remember him playing so aggressively. Those forehand winners down the line, he was like 20 plus forehand winners. And so many of them just flew down the line. And the thing I've always loved most about Djokovic is the way he would raise his level when he played Nadal or someone like that. But he so often didn't have to play his best level because he could play fairly mediocre by his standards. It would be enough to beat everyone. I think what we saw tonight was he sort of took him to like a higher plane. he had to go somewhere that he'd sort of never gotten in terms of the aggression because he couldn't he just he couldn't make that a match where it was about like I'm just gonna you know get everything back like that just wouldn't have worked tonight against Sinner he went for shots in a way I can barely remember and I still can't believe he's won to the point where I wonder if Will you know look back on this as being a particularly bad Sinner performance or something like Sinner wasn't at his best and he he looked kind of out of sorts afterwards I thought but But from the Djokovic side, just unbelievable.

12:51Do you think Sinner was shocked by it, by that, the way that Djokovic played that you've all just described? I mean, he was pretty much asked that in press just now. We've just come from that press conference. It's a tricky one for him, isn't it? Yeah, he can't. Because if you say, yeah, we're surprised. Yeah, I thought he'd be shit, to be honest. Everyone's afraid of disrespecting 24-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic in press conferences right now. so I get how that's tricky for him but I do still wonder if he was pretty shocked by obviously by the level but by the approach that he came out with tonight pulling those triggers down the lines and being the one in charge he made Yannick Sinner a passenger from the baseline tonight I think if not surprised I think it hurt him like the way he was in the press conference just now compared to after the French Open final, which was pretty much the biggest devastation a player can suffer.

13:50To me, he seemed, I don't know if he was more upset, he seemed more angry tonight with himself in a way of like, I've let myself down, in a way that I think he didn't so much after the Ron Garos final. But I think that's partly because him and Alcaraz, they are this little club and they kind of elevate each other. And, you know, everyone came out of that French Open final almost saying it was kind of arbitrary who won. You know, they both just put on this show, this exhibition, whereas tonight was all about Novak Djokovic. And I think Sinner will feel really disappointed in himself. And, yeah, a bit surprised by Djokovic's level, but also hurt by it.

14:26And probably a bit embarrassed that he got pummeled and out-muscled and out-powered by a 38-year-old who, two days ago, Lorenzo Mazzetti was rag-dolling in a day session. the more similar press conference to tonight was the US Open one where he was talking about wanting to incorporate new variety and play like Carlos because he was frustrated in that way tonight he was frustrated about missed opportunities kept talking about the missed break points that he had and I take that point and he obviously was up a first set as well and he was serving out lights out in that first set but I do think it shook him to his boots in sets four and five to to be treated like that because it's not like he was taking a back step himself he was going for it he was swinging but the other guy was hitting the cleaner ball and as you said Matt he was pulling the trigger down the line instantly Djokovic that's that's the Djokovic that Nadal couldn't cope with in a long spell.

15:28Nobody hits the ball down the line better than Novak Djokovic. I think Sinner has actually become the next guy who's done that, but actually Djokovic got the better of him in that regard tonight. And it is the first time, like you say, that we've seen Sinner kind of feel the Djokovic effect like that. Look, I know he's lost to him before, but it was more in the period of his career where he was really developing Sinner, and you would expect him to take losses to Novak Djokovic. But this was Djokovic imposing himself on Sinner in a way that he has done a couple of times to Alcaraz. Obviously, the Olympics final stands out.

16:05The quarterfinal here last year stands out. Even the Cincinnati final stands out. These have been big moments in Alcaraz's career where he's had to confront the greatness of Novak Djokovic. Sinner has played Djokovic a lot, but he's felt really superior to him in the matchup in the last year or so. And I do think, therefore, that it rocked him, like we've all said. And I think he lost his way in the match. And I think when he then did have the chances, he didn't quite have the conviction in his game that he needed to take those chances. And Djokovic stepped up on a lot of the breakpoints. There was a backhand winner down the line, followed by a forehand winner down the line on a couple of them.

16:51And good serving. Djokovic is spot serving tonight. I mean, outrageously good. He is like a grandmaster, Djokovic, who has conquered all elements of the sport. and he can just pull on those strings, whether it be tactical mastery or coming up top in big moments or knowing how to navigate five steps. He's done it all. And tonight, under those conditions, he managed to bring it all together in a way that was just remarkable. I still can't fully process what we witnessed. A Serbian journalist asked me to hold his laptop at the end so they didn't get up on match point and it fly everywhere. Like, that was the sort of scenes that were around us in the press.

17:44What was he going through when, despite having outplayed Sinner for two sets to wrestle control and get the big chance, he fluffed his lines in the penultimate? Oh, God, we haven't even talked about that. Oh, my God. Because that was, I mean, we could be sitting here having a very different conversation right now. Thank goodness for bringing that up, David. Match point. He's put down the perfect serve, Djokovic. He has the most straightforward mid-court ball to put away, and he hit it straight back to Sinner, who did a brilliant job of manipulating the ball back to him at his feet and actually ended up wrestling the point away.

18:24I can't tell you how straightforward that point was to win for a player of Novak Djokovic's ability. It was over. People were standing up. They'd taken the photo of the moment. How he didn't put that ball away, and great from Sinner to anticipate it, I suppose. But we talk about the elements of Noah Djokovic that were new today. The point after was a vintage Djokovic moment. Having blown that point, he then just finds a perfect first serve and sort of kills Sinner's moment there and suddenly he's got another match point. Incredible points. Do you remember that in 2016? So it would be almost exactly 10 years ago.

19:06He played Federer in the semifinal. Federer won. I always think of this, Charles. Yeah, that ridiculous point that Federer won. And then Djokovic just... He didn't win another point in the match. Yeah, he won that game and then that was it. I mean, it was just like... And I remember... And everyone went wild when Federer won that point. And he was just like, yeah, so what? I'm going to win the next one and then the match. But yeah, two out of 18 break points for Sinner. That's what is going to kill him. I mean, he will have so many regrets about that. That's why he was furious. I mean, for all the reasons you've said, lost to a 38-year-old, didn't play his best, but it's the missed chances, isn't it?

19:42Yeah, that's the thing. And, like, you know, every player has those days from time to time. Federer had a few. He had one here against Sitza Pass. But, yeah, I think that those are just so hard to take because he knows. He knows he had the chances. Can we have a moment for the mustard and the ketchup, the two men who I think just sort of embodied the lunacy of today and the rollercoaster. What a rollercoaster they had. They went on a similar journey to Novak Djokovic in the match, in a way, because they were positioned... Now, just to set the scene, I mean, the ketchup and the tomato and the mustard bottle, what does that mean?

20:22Well, the two people decided to come to the Australian Open semifinals dressed as a mustard bottle and a ketchup bottle. They were incredible fancy dress outfits. And they were really bang on. And my word, were they noisy. And they were shouting for Djokovic. And they were saying, we want ace from him when he was about to serve. But the thing is, they were on three rows from the back of the entire stadium in a 15 ,000-seat stadium. These are, by the way, machines going past to clean the gangways. and we've got people tidying up rubbish all around. It's a big post-apocalyptic vibe about the scene around us.

21:02They're getting the place ready for the women's final tomorrow. And this went on for some hours and suddenly there was a huge number of seats around them that were empty from people who either didn't want to have to look over the top of the ketchup bottle or didn't want to hear these blokes shouting at the top of their voice in the direction of Novak Djokovic. About seven games from the end, Catherine looked back to see where they were, and they'd gone. Well, no, hang on. There was a chapter in the story before that where they were spoken to by security. Yeah, they almost got ejected. They just about managed to stay in.

21:37And then we suddenly realised they'd gone from nearly being ejected to being on the back row to suddenly being on the front row, right next to Novak Djokovic. So they'd got promoted. They had quite the day. We want ace. Was that what they were saying? I thought it was we want eggs. I thought it was an eight or something. I just couldn't work it out. I just assumed it must be food-related. Like, there has to be a reason why they're dressed as a mustard and a ketchup. There was a moment where they chanted, we want ace, Djokovic hits an ace, and they just went, thank you! Yeah, one of them did a twirl after that.

22:11It was, yeah, I mean, totally surreal. And actually, surreal is one of the words that Djokovic used in his on-court interview afterwards, didn't he? along with the words I just hope I have enough gas for Sunday which was slightly ominous and also when asked about what it would mean to him to win on Sunday he said honestly it feels like winning tonight I think that's fair enough of course but he does have to how on earth do you pick yourself up from this to summit another mountain Well, if anybody can, that bloke can. And we'll come on to this, but Carlos Alcaraz is in the same boat. And look, I kind of have a theory today that like, you know, how this tournament generally has had the feel of dud after dud after dud.

23:08I do think these things catch. And I do think if Carlos Alcaraz converts that two sets to love lead and wins it in straight sets and gets the job done quickly. Like, I don't know, maybe I'm totally out of my mind, but... We'd have been asleep for about four hours already in this parallel universe. No, I think the Djokovic upset becomes less likely. That's what I mean, yeah, because then Sinner wins in straight sets as well and we're out of it. Yeah, I just think, like, these things catch, and I think Djokovic is, you know, he's watching that first semi-final, he's getting a taste for it, he's thinking, hang on a minute, if I can bring it now...

23:45these guys aren't so invincible i've got a i've got to play either cramping carlos alcaraz or zverev who i backed myself to be you know like that's kind of the situation and so he gave that line in the encore interview didn't he where he said something like i just want to i just want to be there physically with him go toe-to-toe with him and then let's let the gods decide who wins and i i saw that was like a really ominous line from novak diakovic and like and that's the play isn't it? He's got to make it a match. He's got to get into it in a way that he got into this one. There's definitely a world where he gets blown away, I think, even after what we've seen tonight.

24:24Maybe I'm being completely ridiculous writing him off again. I do think that's still possible. He is still 38 years old coming up against someone in his absolute prime who we think is going to be an all-time great in Carlos Alcaraz. But if he can make it a match, if he can get into it, if he can get in Alcaraz's head, he is going to fancy his chances. He is dangerous on Sunday night, Novak Djokovic, after what he's just pulled off. I mean, he articulated kind of the worries I and I imagine everyone had was a kind of like, what state is he going to be in now? And it's the Pat Cunter thing, can he lift himself again?

25:01And I mean, obviously a few hours before, we'd had all those same concerns about Alcaraz. So maybe they can't see each other out and they're both kind of knackered for that match. But I do think for him to lift, you know, we've seen it. We saw it here last year. He beat Alcaraz. Obviously, he suffered an injury in that match, but then he wasn't able to then back it up against Zverev. We just don't know how much this, I mean, he was also playing at, he was playing at basically a peak level. Whether he'd be able to do that again. and you know whether part of as much as Sinner obviously wasn't going to say he was surprised whether there was an element of a surprise factor subconsciously or otherwise everyone was writing him off I'm sure you know all the expectations and he got to be the defiant kind of I'm going to show you guy whereas now I think a lot of people will be thinking he's got a great shot this is an even match against the guy who's just played five and a half hours a guy who Djokovic beat here last year who he's beaten in other big matches we know Alcaraz even in that US Open final when Djokovic was clearly injured and you know could barely move by the end but Alcaraz even said he was like I didn't really enjoy it like I don't he doesn't like playing Djokovic but maybe that's going to force him to lock in as well and there's also this just so tantalising situation of just the feeling of both these men feel like they're fated to win this title, right?

26:31Feels like, oh well of course you know the tide is with Novak Djokovic, this is destined to happen and it felt like that with Carlos Alcaraz earlier today and they can't both we should probably talk about Carlos Alcaraz and his five hours and 27 minutes en route to this final. We will do that in part two. But first, a word from our sponsors of this episode and every other dud episode of the tennis podcast throughout this Australian Open. Steve Fergal's International Tennis Tours, the premium hospitality and experience provider. Didn't join in there, Charlie. I feel that I'm sort of like muscling in on your joke.

27:17I don't want to be that guy. I feel like Matt needed an assist tonight. What are you saying about my performance so far on the pod? They are, of course, also, Steve Fergels, an official ticket and travel package provider for Roland Garros 2026, where Yannick Sinner will be going for the career slam. With Steve Fergels, you can do Roland Garros the official way, which means you're guaranteed peace of mind and a faff-free experience at one of the most beautiful sporting events in the world. And, of course, Tennis Podcast listeners can save 10 % on Roland Garros ticket packages featuring official tickets and, if you want it, access to premium hospitality options.

28:02All of it secured the official way. Just go to tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast. That's tours4tennis.com forward slash podcast and save 10 % on your dream trip with the code PARIS10. Welcome back to part two of today's tennis podcast, where it is time to talk about the longest semifinal in Australian Open history. 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5. Carlos Alcaraz beat Alexander Zverev. Matt, we met post-puke Alcaraz today. What a player he is. I've yet to find a version of Carlos Alcaraz that I don't like and post-puke was also great gosh this match I mean so much has happened since this match but this was one of those ones that just became an entirely different organism altogether halfway through it But Carlos Alcarez was not at his best in the first set.

29:14I think his serve was really getting him out of trouble in that first set. His ground strokes weren't quite on it. His then serve drops off in the second set. But then he started finding the ground strokes. And he'd had a period at the start of the second set where he was a little bit too much the showman, I think. And not quite locking in and winning the points he needed to win. So therefore he went down a break. but he got it back and he won the second set and honestly I thought he was cruising to victory here and then it just all changed when well I thought he was injured initially my first reaction to what happened was that he was injured that he had stretched for a ball and hurt his leg and then when he took a medical timeout I thought right well he's definitely injured because you can't can't take a medical timeout for cramp but it became apparent quite quickly actually that this did this was cramping and that he was he was struggling with that and it was going to be something that he was then going to have to manage through the rest of the match and we were presented with this incredible scenario where Alcaraz has got this lead but he's cramping Kanzverev deal with facing a cramping opponent, but he's got such a clear advantage because Alcaraz is barely moving at times.

30:37But has Alcaraz got enough time left in the match for it to wear off, enough for him to still get over the line? It just became fascinating and gripping in a way that I just couldn't have imagined after the way the first couple of sets played out. Charlie, you called this an act of escapology, much like the Roland Garros final, which I completely agree with and yet it's just wild, isn't it? He was two sets to love up and cruising and yet it was an act of escapology that he won that match today. Yeah, it's weird because it does feel kind of backward that he was the one two sets up rather than two sets down.

31:18But it absolutely did feel like he was sort of done for for a while. Both because there was this sense either he was going to pull out or there was it was like is he going to just sort of stagger towards the finish line just so he can complete the match you know one of those types or then obviously once it does get to the fifth set Zverev gets the early break and just and keeps holding on again a bit like Sinner missing all those break points in the fifth set and throughout the match against Djokovic that was Alcaraz against Zverev in that fifth set until finally he did break him but yeah it had that escapology feel I mean, he is just, he's the guy at doing that.

31:56I mean, like, Djokovic did it to Federer a few times, but it's pretty rare to be doing that in, like, you know, top-level Grand Slam semis and finals, like, just clawing your way out of these situations. And the way he does it and just, you know, is so fearless. And, you know, he talked about belief. It's just about, like, never giving up. I refuse to give up, which he said on court and then expanded in the press conference a bit. but yeah he was right on the precipice again and kind of just hauled himself back. It was a three-act play wasn't it? It was the first two sets Alcaraz cruising it was most of the next two sets of Alcaraz walking around like a zombie trying to keep himself as loose as possible but also kind of just running down the clock to give himself time for the pickle juice to work.

32:49You know, we heard that his box, I think it was Sammy Lopez, said to him, like, it'll wear off in a while. Just hang in there. It will wear off in a while. We had Darren Cahill saying that to Deannick Sinner earlier in the tournament in a slightly different scenario, but, like, just find a way to stay in the match and you'll have your chance later on. And then the third act, obviously, was that fifth set where it felt like, you know okay they were both out on their feet because they'd been playing for five hours but it became a proper competitive tennis match again for that fifth set yeah i was really impressed with the way alcaraz managed his game in that period where he was clearly really struggling with the cramps because first of all he really stripped everything back in terms of movement but was still able to come up with some absolutely outrageous shot making it was like so efficient suddenly his tennis became well he got to within two points of winning the match in straight immediately went a love 30 on the zero sir didn't he while standing still hitting drop shot winners it was actually conversely a reminder of his talent in some ways because he was that he was just teeing off in a way we rarely see him doing now because he's a bit more methodical It was kind of a throwback, but he was basically just absolutely leathering forehands or pulling out really early drop shots.

34:18Yeah, so that was remarkable. But then what I really enjoyed was his attitude to it all. Like there was no real sense of panic about him. I think maybe in the initial stages and, you know, there was a lot of chat between him and the team. But as it went on, I think he, you know, he was heard saying to himself, poco a poco, little by little. Like he was, he just realized that he did have time still in this match and he kept celebrating the little wins along the way. Like raising his arms aloft, keeping the crowd fully engaged in it, grinning, like making everyone in that stadium believe along with him.

34:58So he like, he wasn't on his own in that belief. He suddenly had this groundswell of support around him. He was obviously the more popular player in the match anyway, but he galvanised everyone to believe in his comeback story from two sets up. It was a crazy feat that he pulled off, and I think only Carlos Alcaraz could have done that. It's one of his gifts, the way that he can connect with crowds like that. I really think it was an important aspect in this match for him. It was like the French Open final was a rehearsal for today. I remember him doing that at a sit-down in the French Open final after a hold of serve when he was a breakdown and he shook his fist at the crowd.