Carlos Alcaraz's journey at Roland Garros finished after cramps interfered with his play but he never thought about retiring.
Alcaraz is a very old-school player in many ways and retiring a match is the last thing he wants to do. He played the 2023 Rio Open final earlier this year despite being severely hampered by an injury and refusing to retire. He did a similar thing in the Roland Garros semi-final after experiencing full-body cramps in the 3rd set.
It was a tough sight for all Alcaraz fans as he couldn't play properly but he opted to finish the match never even considering retiring. He did retire last year in Paris but it was to keep his chances of the ATP Finals alive. This time around there was no major event coming in the next few weeks so it made sense to continue and it wasn't really an injury.
Well, I would have felt sorry about myself if I would retire, you know. I'm in a semifinal of a Grand Slam. If I retired from that, it could have been really tough for me.
It's a mindset that's very similar to Rafael Nadal, who opted to continue playing at the Australian Open final even after the injury. It might have made his injury worse but he wanted to finish the match as the defending champion. Alcaraz's reasoning was kind of similar. He knew he couldn't probably win but he still never thought about retiring.
Of course in the third set, no, but thinking about the fourth set, I thought that probably I have 1% chance, you know, to come back. It was really tough. But, you know,in the fourth set I had breakpoints in the first game(smiling). But, you know, after that, I just continue playing, you know. In my mind, in the fourth set, it was not the retirement.
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