Alexander Zverev failed to win his maiden Grand Slam trophy at the 2024 Roland Garros, and after the match, he bemoaned some of the factors that contributed to that.
It was a fairly well-contested match by the German player despite very few giving him a proper chance. He spent more time on the court than Carlos Alcaraz and generally didn't instill the same amount of fear in players as Alcaraz did, and that's why many pundits favored the Spaniard to win the match.
He did, but it didn't go as easily as some thought it would. Zverev actually held a 2-1 lead after three sets of play, but then he couldn't keep the same level. He got outplayed in the final two sets, though there were some unlucky moments, which he bemoaned after the match.
One, in particular, was a controversial call that went Alcaraz's way, and Zverev thinks things might have worked out differently if that call had gone his way. At 2-1 for Alcaraz and 15-40 on the Spaniard's serve in the fifth set, Alcaraz's serve was incorrectly called in, and according to Zverev, it would have changed the match.
"I feel like I did everything I could today. In the fifth set, there were some unlucky moments. I heard that at 2-1, the second serve was out from the Hawk Eye data. I saw that. So you know, I broke back back there. I had break chances then in the next service game."
In the end, Zverev admitted that Alcaraz played better than him when it mattered the most. He simply didn't step up to the necessary level when he needed to, and in that sense, Alcaraz's winning was 'justified'.
"The 5th set could have gone the other way but it is what it is. He played fantastic, he played better than me in the 4th and 5th set. It is how it is. I felt like in this Grand Slam final I did everything I could."
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