After racing to his right and hitting a crushing forehand winner on match point, Carlos Alcaraz fell to the ground and lay on his back in Rod Laver Arena.
Soon the world No. 1 was up and embracing his opponent, No. 3 Alexander Zverev, after finally winning the third-longest match in Australian Open history, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-7(4), 7-5. The epic encounter lasted 5 hours and 27 minutes. It was also the second-longest match in a men’s major semifinal.
Alcaraz survived a case of cramps that required a medical timeout and a bout of vomiting in the third set to advance to his first Australian Open final.
He will have 48 hours to recover for Sunday, when he will face either No. 1 Jannik Sinner, the two-time defending champion, or No. 4 Novak Djokovic, who is bidding for a record 25th major title.
At 22, Alcaraz is bidding to become the youngest man to capture the career Grand Slam. He is seeking his seventh major title.
Zverev, who lost in last year’s final to Sinner, is still seeking his first major title.
“Believing. Believing all the time,” Alcaraz said on court. “I always say that you have to believe in yourself no matter what struggles you’re going through. You gotta still 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’ve ever played in my short career. But I’ve been in these kind 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 til the last ball. I knew I would have my chances. I was patient in the fifth set. Just extremely proud of my serve and the way I came back in the fifth set.”
The German served for the match in the fifth set at 5-4, only to be broken by Alcaraz thanks to a massive forehand winner that Zverev sailed long. The Spaniard’s movement improved dramatically after he drank pickle juice following the onset of cramps in the third set.
Alcaraz held for 6-5 in the fifth and then broke the German to close it out and improve to 60-0 when leading two sets to love.
The Spaniard looked like he might have to tap out late in the third set when he struggled to move because of cramps in his right quad. When he received a medical timeout, Zverev was not happy, calling it “f—ing bulls—” because players are not supposed to get medical timeouts for cramps. Still, it was unclear at the time if Alcaraz had a more serious groin injury.
Alcaraz was still within two points of closing it out with Zverev serving at 5-6, 0-30 but missed a forehand. Zverev went on to win the tiebreak and extend the match.
“I thought he was toast, to be honest. In that third set, he couldn’t move at all,” John McEnroe said on ESPN. “He tried to weather it. Lucikly for him, it got later in the day, it started to cool off. He was up two sets, he’s got a great five-set record. But having said that, Zverev had this match won…He had a chance to serve it out. That’s the type of match that you don’t forget for years to come.”
Told that he could become the youngest man to win the career Slam, Alcaraz said:
“Well thank you for putting so much pressure on me right now I’m kidding I’m kidding.
“I’m really happy to have the chance to play my first final here. It’s something I was pursuing a lot. I think it’s been a great two weeks so far. My level has been increasing a lot. I wouldn’t be here right now without these guys [the crowd].. it was a real pleasure playing in front of you. The way you pushed me back into the match. The way you pushed me every time, every ball, every point. I’m really grateful for the support I got not only in this match but the whole tournament.”