A duel ‘in crescendo’
Before the cramps, Alcaraz, impeccable in his previous stagings in the tournament, had seized his arm for an hour and a half before the giant.
His exceptional palette of blows was reduced to a right that in too many exchanges stayed in the net.
Djokovic did not need to come close to excellence to take the first set. An expert in this type of scenario, he was playing his 45th Grand Slam semifinal, he was surgical and resistant to score a break that meant the first set.
Opposite, Alcaraz had changed the smiles of other days for gestures of frustration towards his people. The left, thermometer of the leprechaun of him, did not accompany him.
However, he had had four break balls that he did not take advantage of. His irregularity was reflected when he got one of the points of the year at the beginning of the second sleeve: A parallel from behind that he held up to ‘Djoko’. In the next, he again the ball to the net.
His party went through being able to enter into a dynamic of success. Midway through the second set, he finally hit the mark with a break that he celebrated with his arm in the air and a loud ‘Let’s go!’, which served as a tribute to the great absentee Nadal.
Djokovic returned it unceremoniously. But the panorama had changed: Alcaraz recovered his joy, reduced the errors and after two hours of tennis ‘in crescendo’ both players delighted the center back.
‘Carlitos’ scored his sleeve with his second tear and ‘Nole’, who had already received treatment on his right arm, called a medical time-out and went to the locker room. The center received him between boos to start a third ’round’ without history due to cramps.
Alcaraz went to the locker room, but did not get much improvement. He also delivered the fourth sleeve and the match.