Carlos Alcaraz hopes to avoid a third-night session match at the 2022 Roland Garros as he prepares to take on Alexander Zverev in a marquee quarterfinal.
For the first time in his young career, Alcaraz has reached the French Open quarterfinal stage. The sixth seed has played three matches on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Two of Alcaraz's matches were scheduled during the night session, and he defeated 27th seed Sebastian Korda and 21st seed Karen Khachanov. His quarterfinal opponent, Zverev, is far from impressed by the tournament's scheduling, terming it favoritism toward the Spaniard.
Tuesday's schedule is going to be an absolute blockbuster, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic also set to feature in the other much-anticipated quarterfinal.
Alcaraz has responded to the possibility that his match against Zverev might be slated for the night session. Contrary to many subjective opinions, the 19-year-old insisted that it is cumbersome to the body when his matches finish so late into the night and also stated that the schedule should be evened out to exercise fairness for all quarterfinalists.
"It would be unfair to me. Let's say things clearly. I already played twice on night sessions. I don't say I'm bothered to play it but I have less recuperation time, everything finishes late."
"At the very best, you finish at midnight, then you have to go home, to eat dinner, to do physio, try to rest but with the adrenaline... It's more complicated to rest. So, be again, for the third time in a row, playing night session, it wouldn't seem fair to me."
Alcaraz and Zverev are set to meet for the fourth time on Tour. The German leads the head-to-head 2-1, but the World No. 6 won their last meeting in the Madrid Open final in straight sets. Their clash on Tuesday is expected to be much closer than the quickfire final they played last month.