After battling a severe forearm injury in the lead-up to this year’s tournament, Carlos Alcaraz called taking home his maiden French Open championship the proudest highlight of his career to date.
“Probably this one is the moment that I’m really proud about myself, because everything that I have done the last month just to be ready for this tournament with my team, a lot of talks with them,” he remarked. “It has been really difficult for me, to be honest, if I have to practice or if I can’t practice or discuss with them.”
The third-seeded Alcaraz overcame cramping and a two-sets-to-one disadvantage to upset the fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in four hours and 19 minutes at Roland Garros to win his third grand slam title.
With his victories in the US Open on hard courts in 2022 and the Wimbledon grass tournament in 2023, 21-year-old Alcaraz is the youngest person in history to win a major on all three surfaces. This is a record for men’s accomplishments as he has accomplished it in 13 grand slam competitions.
The previous record was shared by Rafael Nadal and Jimmy Connors, who both won 20 majors and did it on all three surfaces.
Alcaraz remarked, “I consider myself a player who doesn’t need too many matches on my back just to get at 100%,”
“I had a really good week here in Paris, practising with good players. I felt really well playing sets, moving, hitting my shots before the tournament began. Obviously every match that I have played, I was getting better and better.”
Alcaraz got a strawberry tattooed on his ankle following Wimbledon, and he inked the date of his victory over Casper Ruud on his arm as a memento of their US Open victory. He claims he will ink the date of Sunday and the Eiffel Tower on his leg as a way to commemorate his victory.
He answered, “I have to find the time.” “But I will do it for sure. It’s going to be in the left ankle. Wimbledon was the right one. Here is going to be the left one, I think so with the Eiffel Tower with the date of today.”
“And, yeah, it’s something that I’m gonna do. I don’t know if next weeks or gonna take a month or two months, but I will do it.”
