Spectators are still peeking out of the Philippe Chatrier vomitoriums.
They had a Chardonnay and some canapés, a quick snack at Roland Garros after the emotions of Djokovic-Kachánov (the Serb needed four sets to topple the Russian), and quickly access the stands for the night shift, and in that Briefly, Stéfanos Tsitsipás (24) has endorsed three aces to Carlos Alcaraz (20) and, in one go, has scored the first game.
What does Alcaraz do?
Respond forcefully.
Three minutes later his service has been awarded.
And then he breaks Tsitsipás' serve. And from there, the game is not a game, but an outrage.
In a flash, in just 2h12m, Alcaraz quells the rebellion of Greek sculpture, a tennis player who borders on excellence but falls short of it, he accumulates so many shots at the post.
The excellence is put by Alcaraz, the teenager who finally, late at night in Paris, meets Novak Djokovic in the semifinal on Friday, according to so many an anticipated final.
-I really want to play that game, it is possibly one of the toughest rivals that exists, right? -says Alcaraz after his triumph.
(...)
Alcaraz puts art and craft into each of his points, a festival of forehands, cut shots to the ground and passing blows that the first set delivers in barely half an hour and stuns Tsitsipás, all of this is excessive for him, and he hurries the chronicler , forced to draw up a story on the run, a fast food, a scroll or a miniseries, all those formats that our young people are so passionate about.
Alcaraz, the leading volcano on the world circuit, is new school.
Quickie wants it all, and this is how the puppies crush the members of the Next Gen, the lost generation that has served as stuffing for the sandwich between the Big Three and the younger ones, people like Alcaraz or Rune: if Djokovic has devoured Kachánov, Tsitsipás begins to tremble when facing the Murcian.
The matter is painful, an affront to Tsitsipás, who has already experienced something like this not long ago (in April, in the final of the Godó Trophy) and does not know how to compose himself.
This is a walk for Alcaraz and a party for the public.
Paris mourns the absence of Nadal, the legend who rests in Manacor, convalescing from his iliac psoas surgery, but celebrates the explosion of Alcaraz, the marvel who mistreats Tsitsipás as he has previously mistreated Musetti or Shapovalov, notable tennis players whose presence is dwarfs before the Murcian.
Tsitsipás is the fifth tennis player in the world, and has been a finalist right here, in Paris, in 2021 (he lost to Djokovic).
And he tries.
The Greek snorts, takes out to the T and then very angled, and Alcaraz reaches everything, looks like a sprinter encapsulated on a tennis court.
Tsitsipás says that playing on clay is like painting on a canvas, but now he is desperate, and for this reason he sends a volley to the stands when the ball came smoothly, in the middle of the court and with all the space in the world, and then he faces off with his box, because there is still a lot of game left (he is 3-1 down in the second set) and yet he is already seeing himself out of Roland Garros.
"Damn", it seems to be said, while cursing his bad luck, the misfortune of having coincided in time with Nadal and Djokovic and, now also, with Alcaraz.
-How do you do it? Marion Bartoli asks him later.
-The key is to believe in oneself -answers Alcaraz, who has standardized the answer.
The misfortune of Tsitsipás upsets the Parisian, who sides with him: he has paid a lot for this night shift, a game that flies towards a dizzying outcome.
–It will have been a very short match, but the show is fantastic –says a colleague in the press box.
At that time, night has not yet closed over Paris.
Paris celebrates each point of the Greek, that the night does not break.
“Allez, Stéfanos,” someone calls out.
Tsitsipás is entertained. Nothing comes out. Pissed off, he says goodbye to the second set: he does it with a double fault after conceding a warning.
Alcaraz goes to his. We are 1h05m in and the second set has already been scored: ten of the last eleven games have been awarded and they are not going to let go of their prey (in a flash they add another three).
Disappointed, Tsitsipás just wants the clay to swallow him up. He finally wins a game and calls for applause. He raises his arms.
Paris applauds the defeated, who only offers resistance in the final stretch, when he saves five match points, two of them in the tie break of the third set.
Blushing, as he leaves, he passes the sculpture that Jordi Díez sculpted for Rafael Nadal.
