Alexander Zverev has suffered yet another near miss at a Grand Slam with his loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the final four at the 2026 Australian Open.
In the longest semifinal ever at Melbourne Park, at five hours and 27 minutes, Alcaraz defeated Zverev 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5 to advance to the championship match.
Has Alexander Zverev just blown his last chance to win a Grand Slam?
The German came close to completing an astonishing comeback, having served for the match in the decisive fifth set following a break.
Alcaraz kept fighting, however, and sealed the victory to continue his pursuit of a Career Grand Slam by making his first Australian Open final.
After the defeat, Zverev admitted there was one moment in the clash with the Spaniard he regrets the most.
Alexander Zverev reacts to his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in Melbourne
“The second set,” revealed the world number three in his post-match press conference.
Zverev was leading Alcaraz 5-2 in the second set, but failed to take advantage of the golden opportunity to level the scoring.
He continued: “That one, for me, I felt like I should have won. You know, especially serving for it, I didn’t play a good game serving for it.
“Funny enough, I don’t have many regrets in the fifth set, because I was hanging on for dear life, to be honest. I was exhausted.
“But, yeah, the second set. I think going up, being one set all, and him starting to cramp in the third set, that probably would have made a difference, yeah.”
Alcaraz suffered from cramp in the third set, and was allowed to receive medical attention for it; a decision Zverev was not happy about.
Were the Australian Open too lenient with Carlos Alcaraz?
Alexander Zverev admits he got ‘a bit nervous’ when serving out
Zverev looked the most likely to advance to the final after his early break in the fifth set, but he could not get over the line against a defiant Alcaraz.
“I mean, I got a bit nervous,” said Zverev. “I mean, obviously, I’m down two sets to love, so I don’t want to lose my serve either, because then he can serve it out.
“Even not feeling 100%, he can still serve it out because you saw how hard he was hitting his forehand, how well he was hitting his backhand.
“You know, he’s still a great player no matter what is happening. Yeah, so I was maybe a bit cautious, maybe a bit careful, but the rest of the match, I thought I was getting into the rallies well. I was hitting the ball well, hitting quite hard also.
“Yeah, again, I think it was just a great battle and overall a good match.”
Zverev’s loss marks his seventh semifinal exit at a Grand Slam.
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