On the men’s side at Roland Garros, Carlos Alcaraz fought hard to win his title, offering a gruelling road to success in stark contrast to Iga Swiatek’s.
She swanned to her fourth French Open success, a third in a row, as she brushed aside all in her way with remarkable ease.
For the 21-year-old, however, it was not so easy, and whilst also dealing with a forearm injury in the build-up, he was handed a hugely tough run to the final which saw him overcome an in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas, the new world number one in Jannik Sinner, and then Alexander Zverev.
This even sparked John McEnroe to claim that Carlos Alcaraz was better than Roger Federer was at his age.
However, for all his success, his coach is not allowing this magical yet hampered run to impact their progression too much
Juan Carlos Ferrero points out Carlos Alcaraz weakness
Speaking after their French Open success, Juan Carlos Ferrero was actually rather critical in his assessment of Alcaraz.
After all, it is his job to ensure he improves, and despite the enthralling manner in which he won the title, there was left plenty of room for growth.
The Spanish coach, and former Roland Garros winner himself, would claim: ‘It seems to me that sometimes he wants to play too good. He doesn’t need to play at that incredible level all the time that he wants to.
‘Sometimes he needs to slow down a little bit. Maybe go to the net with the drop shot, but then come back. Stay more at the top level mentally, sometimes he’s up and down a bit. And he creates opportunities for others that he doesn’t need to.’
Carlos Alcaraz won Roland Garros whilst seemingly still injured
Despite coming through five sets twice, in both the semi-finals and the final, it was clear in both matches that Alcaraz was hampered.
Against Sinner in particular, there was a distinct lack of quality between two of the sport’s elite players. The Italian had been plagued with a hip ailment in the run-up to Roland Garros, whilst the Spaniard’s forearm had been troubling him.
He played the entire tournament with a sleeve on to mitigate this issue, and whilst he attested that it was no longer bothering him, his performances suggested otherwise.
After all, despite firing in 65 winners against Sinner, he offset that by posting an unusually large 58 unforced errors.
Then again, against Zverev, this arguably got worse, posting 52 winners and 56 unforced errors.
Ferrero is right in what he says about Alcaraz’s shot selection, but similarly, he has clearly endured a two-week period plagued by injury.
As such, his title triumph is made even more impressive, and hopefully, with some much-needed rest, he can recapture his best in the coming months.
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