A resilient Carlos Alcaraz battled through cramping to survive Alexander Zverev, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5, and reach the first Australian Open final of his career.
Given he’s already reached finals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open—and won them all twice each, too—he’s now reached the finals of all four Grand Slams in his career.
And it’s historic—the 22-year-old is actually the youngest man in the Open Era to reach the final of all four majors in his career. The previous record-holder was Jim Courier, who completed his set as a slightly older 22 at Wimbledon in 1993.
Alcaraz will go for even more history this coming Sunday, as winning the title in Melbourne would make him the youngest man in tennis history to complete the Career Grand Slam.
After about two hours on court it looked like things were headed in one direction in the first semifinal on Friday, after Alcaraz took the first set on the strength of one break in the ninth game, then rallied from a break down at 5-2 to clinch the second set in a tie-break, going up two sets to none.
He was even two points from closing out the match late in the third set, during Zverev’s 4-5 and 5-6 service games.
But he began struggling with cramping during the second set and Zverev eventually pounced, sneaking out the third and fourth sets in tie-breaks. The German then broke in the opening game of the fifth set, which looked like the final nail in the coffin.
Alcaraz got to break point in three of Zverev’s service games in a row, at 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3, but he just couldn’t convert, and he soon found himself down 5-3 in the decider, serving to stay in it.
But the world No. 1 held to close in to 4-5, and then he finally broke through, breaking Zverev in the next game to make it 5-all. He then held for 6-5 and broke again to close out the match after a ridiculous five hours and 27 minutes on court.
Fittingly, Alcaraz’s on-court interviewer after the match was Courier, the man whose record he had just broken. His first question: ‘How in the world did you win this tennis match?’
“Believing. Believing, all the time,” Alcaraz replied.
“I always say that you have to believe in yourself, no matter what struggles you’ve been through, no matter anything. You’ve still got to believe in yourself, all the time.
“I was struggling in the middle of the third set. Physically, it was one of the most demanding matches I have ever played in my short career, I would say. But I’ve been in these situations, I’ve been in these kinds of matches before, so I knew what I had to do. I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it. I fought until the last ball, I knew that I was going to have my chances.
“I’m just extremely proud of myself and the way that I fought, and the way that I came back in the fifth set.”