"He didn't know what to do with Zverev"- John McEnroe warns Alcaraz of upcoming problems

Friday, 03 June 2022 at 16:00

Updated at Tuesday, 12 November 2024 at 16:51

mcenroe john lavercup2022 florinbaltatoiu7

byNurein Ahmed

John McEnroe warned teenage sensation Carlos Alcaraz of more frequent moments, such as the one he experienced in the quarterfinal of Roland Garros.

Alcaraz has enjoyed a meteoric rise into the world's Top 10 and won two Masters titles already in the first half of the season. The week in Madrid, where he defeated both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in back-to-back matches, he unearthed his talent on the main stage.

And that led to the early pronouncements of Alcaraz potentially winning a Grand Slam this season or even claiming the world number one ranking. Although the arguments are valid, McEnroe assessed the Spaniard's French Open exit as a learning process.

Speaking to Eurosport, the veteran commentator believes Alcaraz just did not have the solution on the court. He was beaten in four sets by Alexander Zverev, who avenged his Madrid Open final defeat to the same opponent in the lead-up to the clay major.

"It was the first time in a while he looked his age, the first time for a while he looked like he was 19. He didn’t seem exactly to know what to do with Zverev. He battled, he showed a lot of heart, his game was picking up but that was a big deficit that he tried to overcome."

"In truth, Zverev should have won in three sets because Alcatraz wasn't really on his game. But let’s credit Sasha, a lot of it had to do with him and what he was bringing to the table. This is why to me it's going to be a problem for Carlos down the road since he is going to play a lot of these big guys who win a lot of free points and that puts pressure on you."

Despite McEnroe's comments, it's worth remembering that this was Alcaraz's first Roland Garros quarterfinal, and he's undoubtedly this generation's new superstar who is designed to reach the mountaintop in the near future.