Playing in his second Grand Slam final, Alexander Zverev came up short for a second time–and again in a five-set heartbreaker.
At the 2020 U.S. Open, Zverev found himself one win away from the title when he faced Dominic Thiem. In fact, the German came within one set and even one game of lifting the trophy. However, he squandered a two-set lead and also a 5-3 advantage in the fifth set before falling to Thiem 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6).
The 27-year-old’s next opportunity came on Sunday at the French Open. Zverev led two sets to one this time but lost to Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 after four hours and 19 minutes.
As the respective scores indicate, Zverev did not come quite as close to glory in Paris as he did in New York. It’s also worth noting that the world No. 4 was a considerable underdog against Alcaraz, who was already a two-time Grand Slam champion. Zverev’s U.S. Open showdown against Thiem was more of a 50-50 proposition–and Zverev was certainly a heavy favorite once he went up two sets to love and also 5-3 in the fifth.
Unsurprisingly, the feeling was different.
“I feel like I did everything I could today,” Zverev said following Sunday’s loss. “But it is what it is. Look, he played fantastic. He played better than me the fourth and fifth set. It’s how it is. I felt like this Grand Slam final I did everything I could. At the U.S. Open I kind of gave it away myself. It’s a bit different.”
The No. 4 seed also lamented a missed opportunity in the fifth set that was not his own doing. He earned four break points with Alcaraz serving at 2-1, one which saw the Spaniard apparently double-fault. An out call was overruled by chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein even though Hawkeye showed the mark to be wide. Alcaraz eventually held for 3-1. Zverev also had a break chance in his opponent’s 3-2 service game only to see it go by the wayside.
“The fifth set…there [were] some unlucky moments,” Zverev noted. “I heard that at 2-1 the second serve was out. From the Hawk-Eye data, I saw that. (If) I break back there, I have break chances, and then in the next service game, a fifth set can go the other way.”
But it didn’t, and thus Zverev continues to search for what has been an elusive major title.
