The chronicler still remembers that day last spring, in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, when the world collapsed on Sasha Zverev (26).
Well, actually it wasn't.
In reality, it was Zverev who collapsed on the clay at Roland Garros. What happens is that, in his fall, the world collapsed on the German giant. And since then, Zverev has not been the same.
Those were the Roland Garros semifinals.
Zverev faced Rafael Nadal. The game was bitter, both played like angels. Nadal had given up his life to score the first set and he continued to give up his life to stay in the game: the German, number 3 in the world in those days, really pushed.
Both were 6-6 in the second set when Zverev stumbled on a U-turn and took his right ankle with him in the flip. Three external ligaments jumped into the air and all of the German's humanity, the 198 centimeters tall of him, collapsed on the Parisian clay.
And the world, about him.
Minutes later, tearful and saddened, Zverev was going to reappear at Philippe Chatrier to say goodbye to the parish. He left on crutches.
And that's it.
He no longer played in 2022.
Zverev had to wait until the beginning of 2023 to return to the competition courts.
And here we have him now.
But its performance is not the same. At this point in the course he has won twelve games and lost another twelve, a circumstance that illustrates the drift into which he has plunged.
Zverev does not start.
And it was enough for him to cross paths with Carlos Alcaraz for that perception to become certain.
Right now, Alcaraz and Zverev – champion and runner-up last year at the Mutua Madrid Open – are in opposite dimensions.
Zverev (today he is 16th in the world) rambles, moves heavily, seems short of resources and alternatives, he almost never signs up for long rallies.
Alcaraz is at the top of tennis.
He would be the world leader if he did not have so many points to defend or the efforts of Djokovic, a power hammer who wants it all: perpetual leadership and the men's record for Grand Slam titles. He does everything well this year, and on top of that he has the pace of competition.
So far in 2023, Alcaraz has won 26 games and has only lost two. The curriculum includes three titles (Buenos Aires, Indian Wells and Barcelona, and two other finals), and to this is attached a waterfall of play that nullifies any opponent.
Under these circumstances, Zverev has been a puppet in this round of 16 match in Madrid.
He has never managed to get into the match, overwhelmed by the variety of resources from Alcaraz, the man who had broken his serve twice in the first set and another two in the second, and who has taken him ahead in 1h22m, an eloquent balance of 6-1 and 6-2 that included 21 winning points and only nine unforced errors from Murcia (for the twelve winners and the infinite 22 errors by Zverev).
"The truth is that everything has gone well for me," Alcaraz confessed later, when talking with Àlex Corretja at the foot of the track.
In the quarterfinals, Karen Khachánov awaits him, winning against Andrey Rublev, by 7-6 (8) and 6-4.
