PARIS – When everything was hanging by a thread for Carlos Alcaraz in the Roland Garros final, the player himself sent a message to his team. He was still there. The comeback was on.
A confident look and a firm grip on the racquet. Even Juan Carlos Ferrero not truly believed a positive outcome was possible.
“I’m not going to say I believed he could come back from that, but Carlos has shown us that with him, anything is possible. He did it again,” said his coach.
The moment in question: 0-40, 3-5 in the fourth set. Three championship points for Jannik Sinner.
Neither luck nor magic. Nor a collapse from his opponent. According to Juan Carlos Ferrero, there’s only one explanation for Alcaraz’s comeback: his immense fighting spirit. Closely tied to that, his strong connection with the crowd.
“I congratulated him for that fighting spirit, that ability to give everything, and for believing at all times that winning was possible. That’s what we ask of him as a team. What he did out there is anything but easy. As someone who’s played on tour, I know just how hard it really is,” said the former world No. 1.
“I think it was completely unreal,” Ferrero added — considering the context: the tournament, the opponent, the way the match unfolded. The longest final in French Open history. The second in Grand Slams history.
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“To be that close to losing and find a way out… that’s taking another step forward in terms of mental strength. There aren’t many players who fight like that, who recover like that, and still go out to win the match in that way,” the coach admitted.
Playing with the crowd on his side — and interacting with them through both the highs and lows — was also key. Alcaraz fed off the energy of the Philippe Chatrier fans, and with that, produced his best tennis: “He connected with the crowd, and that helped him enormously.”
“He was born to play in these kinds of situations,” Ferrero added.
