Carlos Alcaraz’s rise the best thing that’s happened to Alexander Zverev, says John McEnroe after French Open clash

Alcaraz, 19, has seemed to be on a trajectory this year to move ahead of Zverev and become one of the main challengers to Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev at Grand Slams.

However, after losing to Alcaraz in the Madrid Open final, Zverev hit back in the French Open quarter-finals with a pulsating four-set win.

McEnroe thinks all the talk around Alcaraz leading into the tournament was beneficial for Zverev.

“The best thing that happened to Zverev was Carlos, it took a lot of the pressure off him,” said the seven-time Grand Slam champion on Eurosport.

“Who are we talking about? We are talking about [Rafael] Nadal after his win in Australia, we are talking Djokovic after he was deported from Australia, we are talking about [Stefanos] Tsitsipas because he was in the bottom half of the draw, we talked about Alcaraz, but was anyone really talking about Zverev getting through this far?

“I think that really helped him and when he had the point to prove he could step up and do it.”

Zverev looked to be heading for a comfortable win after claiming the first two sets on Court Philippe Chatrier.

But after Alcaraz took the third set he then forced a fourth-set tiebreak and Zverev had to dig deep to secure his place in the last four, where he will face either Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.

“I have to hand it for Zverev, he played a professional match,” said McEnroe.

“He put in the hard yards for a long time. People were pulling for Alcaraz, who is an unbelievable shot in the arm for tennis, but Zverev really stepped up when he needed to and showed what he was made of.

“That was a strong effort, especially when he started to get a little slower and lost his serve when he was serving for the match. There was incredible energy in the tiebreak, this is why guys do it.”

Mats Wilander was also impressed with Zverev’s performance, describing the world No. 3 as an “unbelievable athlete”.

“We have to give him so much credit. He’s up there with Tsitsipas and Medvedev as athletic animals and with great attitude and you have to put them away, this is one of the best clay matches I have seen Zverev play.

“He is an unbelievable athlete and he plays pretty far behind the baseline when he is defending. He was able to do something with some huge two-handed backhand passing shots down the line, and he got to a couple of drop shots I didn’t think he would ever get to, it’s very well deserved.

“You have to play well to beat Alcaraz but if these guys play really well with the bigger serve and bigger game, it might sometimes be a problem for Alcaraz. He serves well but doesn’t get as many free points as Zverev.”

The win over world No. 6 Alcaraz was Zverev’s first top-10 victory at a Grand Slam.

The quarter-finals in the bottom half of the draw see Marin Cilic face Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud take on 19-year-old Holger Rune.

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