Carlos Alcaraz finally ‘looked human’ in Australian Open defeat – Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios says Carlos Alcaraz ‘looked human’ for perhaps the first time in his Australian Open quarterfinal defeat to Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz was the favourite to win the match and set up a semi-final clash with Daniil Medvedev, but he was badly out of sorts for most of the encounter with the German.
He lost his first service game and quickly found himself a set down. The second set followed a similar pattern and he it looked like it was going to be a rout for Zverev when he served for the match in the third.
Alcaraz somehow rallied, broke at the crucial time and then played a sensational tiebreaker to take it to a fourth set.
That was where the resistance ended, though, and Zverev broke late to ease into the semi-finals.
“Carlos Alcaraz looked human,” Krygios told Eurosport after commentating on his defeat to Zverev. “It’s the first time we’ve seen him like that. He wasn’t unbelievable.
“Credit to Zverev, he took the scenic route to get here It was definitely some flawless tennis from Zverev. He finished with 85% first serve percentage. I don’t think I’ve ever served 85%.
“I thought Alcaraz was edgy and came out swinging while Zverev was tidy. He had to deal with some serious adversity and to somehow come out with the win was insane.
“He used to have a really high ball toss and he used to let it sink down a little bit more, so it has less room for error.
“There is no improvement left, he just proved it on the biggest stage. His second serve looked solid too, he barely hit one. When Alcaraz won the third set breaker in that fashion, it was one of the most ridiculous shot making displays I’ve ever seen.”
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