Alexander Zverev has shown his support for Carlos Alcaraz to win the US Open after losing to the Spaniard in straight sets in their quarter-final tie. Zverev had played a near-five hour contest in the previous round against Jannik Sinner, giving him little time to recover in time for the almighty task of trying to stop Alcaraz.
In contrast, Alcaraz has only had one match that barely broke past the three-hour mark all tournament. As the fresher of the two, Alcaraz immediately had the upper hand on his opponent who appeared to be struggling with a niggling issue.
The No 1 seed eventually got the win in just two-and-a-half-hours to make it through to the semi-finals. And Zverev was gracious in defeat, picking Alcaraz as his preferred winner for the tournament.
“Good luck, go win it,” Zverev said as the two embraced. Speaking after the match, Zverev admitted that he was hampered by a hamstring injury that he picked up during the clash.
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“The second set I felt something in my hamstring glute, left side,” he said. “I couldn’t push off on my serve anymore. My serve speed was down quite a lot compared to the other days.
“Against him especially I needed a good serving day otherwise it would have been difficult. Yeah, I think my biggest weapon was kind of taken away after the first set, and yeah, it’s difficult to even compete if you don’t have that.”
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He added: “The problem is that it’s really bothered me. It bothered me running a little bit, but the biggest problem is pushing off on my serve. Yeah, I think if the serve speed goes down, percentage goes down, it’s very difficult to compete with Carlos.”
Alcaraz now faces Daniil Medvedev for a place in Sunday’s final, an opponent the Spaniard has already beaten twice this year. Their last meeting came at Wimbledon with Alcaraz winning comfortably to make it through to the final.
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic faces off against home-favourite Ben Shelton to keep his hopes alive of making another Grand Slam final.
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