Novak Djokovic moved to within one victory of his record 23rd Grand Slam title on Friday with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win over top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open in Paris.
Djokovic, the tournament’s third seed and a two-time winner of the event, split the first two sets before Alcaraz dealt with an apparent cramp in his right calf at the start of the third. The 20-year-old Spaniard even conceded his service game at 1-1 in order to rush treatment from the on-court physician on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Alcaraz wasn’t the same, however. Djokovic was able to take advantage of a clearly ailing Alcaraz and end the match in 3 hours and 23 minutes. The Serbian will face No. 4 seed Casper Ruud of Norway in the final.
“I feel for him. I feel sorry. … I hope he can recover very soon,” Djokovic said of Alcaraz. “I told him at the net, he knows how young he is. He has plenty of time ahead of him. He’s going to win this tournament, I’m sure, many, many times.”
Alcaraz said tension from the first two sets caused the cramping.
“I would say the first set and the second set was really, really intense and I started to cramp in my arm,” he said. “At the beginning of the third set I started to cramp every part of my body, not only the legs. The arms, as well, every part of the legs.
“The tension. The tension of the match. I started the match really nervous. The tension of the first set, the second set, it was really intense two sets.”
Djokovic, 36, evened his all-time record at 1-1 against Alcaraz. The latter recorded a three-set win in the semifinals in Madrid in May 2022.
Djokovic can regain the No. 1 spot in the world by winning the French Open final Sunday, which will mark his 34th Grand Slam final appearance — tying him with Chris Evert for the most in men’s or women’s tennis in the Open Era.
Djokovic will look to snap a tie in major titles with Rafael Nadal when he battles Ruud.
Ruud, who lost in the finals here to Nadal last year, returned to the championship match with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 victory against No. 24 Alexander Zverev of Germany in 2 hours and 9 minutes.
“I didn’t come into Roland Garros thinking I was a favorite to reach the final,” Ruud said afterward. “Not at all. I was trying to think one match at a time, and let’s see how it goes from there.
“Obviously I (thought then that I) would love to be back in the final like last year, and I (was) always thinking about trying to defend this final spot from last year, but here we are, two weeks later.”
Ruud saved eight of nine break points and converted six of 10. He finished with 25 winners and 19 unforced errors compared to 31 and 37, respectively, for Zverev.
“Today just went really well,” Ruud said. “From the beginning to the last point everything was going my way, luckily, and I’m just very happy to win this match.”
The 24-year-old Ruud, who also reached the 2022 U.S. Open final, is still looking for his first Grand Slam title. He is 0-4 and has yet to win a set against Djokovic.
–Field Level Media
