Former World No. 1 Andy Roddick shared his take on the Netflix Slam exhibition match, which pitted Carlos Alcaraz against Rafael Nadal.
The intergenerational clash saw Alcaraz, 20, beat his 37-year-old compatriot, Nadal, in three sets to lift the Netflix Slam trophy in front of nearly 10,000 fans inside Mandalay Bay's Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The match was played in an indoor setting, which is not Nadal's strongest surface, but this did not prevent him from showcasing his all-muscle tennis and resilience as he fought back in the super tie-break to put a respectable touch to the score.
The event's existence was in real jeopardy after Alcaraz suffered an untimely ankle injury while competing at the Rio Open last month. The first pictures of the Spaniard's foot left the Netflix Slam organizers with hearts in their mouths.
Thankfully, the injury was not as severe as initially thought, and Alcaraz only needed a week of recuperation to get back on his feet.
But it was clear that he wasn't operating at maximum capacity in the blockbuster match, as Andy Roddick recently explained in an episode on his new podcast, Served with Andy Roddick.
"They played well. Carlos (Alcaraz) looking for a little bit. There were some question marks about his ankle after he turned it in Rio. He wasn't running full out, like he would run to his fore, and he wouldn't put on the brakes like he does so well and then kind of get back into the court."
"He kind of ran through the ball. Neither of them served very well, but there were some good moments, and the drama of the match was fantastic."
Although the match wasn't "great," as the former US Open champion who worked as a match commentator at the event asserted, it was still a fine spectacle in terms of drama. It offered value for money for those who paid staggering sums to purchase an on-court ticket.
"I think people often equate, like, if a match is dramatic, they say it's a great match, and I don't always necessarily agree with that. I don't think it was a great match from the kind of the balls and strikes of it. But the drama was high; Rafa saves five match points."
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