"Best thing that happened to Zverev was Alcaraz" - claims John McEnroe

| by Alfredo Bassanelli

In one of his strongest performances in recent weeks, Alexander Zverev overcame Carlos Alcaraz in four sets to set up a semifinal match with Rafael Nadal.

Alexander Zverev committed only 34 unforced errors in his encounter against Carlos Alcaraz, while hitting 39 winners and winning in 3 hours and 21 minutes. The young Spaniard appeared to be regaining control of the match, but he was stopped by a stunning winner on a match point in the tie-break.

"It's clear who the tournament wants to see go through" - Zverev complains about scheduling and Alcaraz
"It's clear who the tournament wants to see go through" - Zverev complains about scheduling and Alcaraz

Despite being the third-seeded at the 2022 Roland Garros, Alexander Zverev was never named as one of the favourites as his part of the draw was packed with names such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or rising star, Carlos Alcaraz. John McEnroe believes, that his might have taken away some pressure from the young German and contributed to his quarterfinal win.

"The best thing that happened to Zverev was Alcaraz. Nobody was talking about Sascha in this tournament."

WATCH: Carlos Alcaraz produces shot of the year
WATCH: Carlos Alcaraz produces shot of the year

After his victory, Zverev said: “I think Carlos is one of the best players in the world right now. It seems quite impossible to beat him. But I knew that I had to play my absolute best from the first point on. Letting him go ahead in the match, letting him get the confidence was going to be a very difficult thing for me to come back from. In the end I'm happy that I won in four sets and didn't have to go to a fifth set.”

“At the end of the day, I'm not 20 or 21 years old anymore. I'm 25. I am at the stage where I want to win, I'm at the stage where I'm supposed to win, as well. We still have the best players in the world playing with Novak [Djokovic], Rafa [Nadal], and Roger [Federer] is coming back. Then you have the new generation, but I think our generation is very strong as well. We have [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, [Daniil] Medvedev who is a US Open champion. I won big events like the Olympics, as well.”

“There is a reason why they are the best in the world at Grand Slams. One [Nadal] has 21, the other one [Djokovic] has 20. They have been top of the game for the past 15, 20 years, and there is a big reason for that. Yes, I have not beaten them in majors, but I feel like I was very close. I feel like I have had very difficult and tough matches against them…But there is a big difference between having a tough match and beating them. Hopefully I can manage and take this win today and put it on the court on Friday.”

"He's moving better than Djokovic or Nadal" - John McEnroe on Carlos Alcaraz
"He's moving better than Djokovic or Nadal" - John McEnroe on Carlos Alcaraz

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