Alexander Zverev was on the wrong side of a judgment call by the umpire in the 2024 Roland Garros final, and it was a crucial point that might have swung the match.
Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz were embroiled in a very close battle that went over four hours and in five sets. The German had a slow start but responded furiously to win the second set and then turned around a 2-5 deficit into a 7-5 set win in the third.
The fourth set wasn't very good for the German, as Alcaraz crushed him easily, but the final set was a proper battle between the players. The Spaniard was better, but the score doesn't paint the best picture because it was actually closer than the 6-2 score would suggest.
The 21-year-old broke early in that fifth set, taking a 2-1 lead, but then they played what many would describe as the pivotal game in the match. It was 2-1 for Alcaraz, and Zverev had three break points.
The Spaniard missed his first serve and hit a second one that was fairly close to the line but was called out by the line umpire. After spotting the mark, the match umpire, Renaud Lichtenstein, came down from his chair and called the ball in.
Zverev was in disbelief, but after a short discussion with the umpire, he had to accept that the umpire wouldn't be changing his decision. The Hawk-eye system later showed that the ball was indeed out, which meant that Zverev should have won that point as it was a double fault.
The score would then be 2-2 with the German back on serve. However, due to the rules, the point was replayed, and Alcaraz got his first serve back. He would save the break points and then win the game to take a 3-1 lead.
After that, he would go on to outplay Zverev 6-2 to lift the trophy, but who knows what might have happened if the ball was correctly called out and the score was 2-2 instead of 3-1.
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