It happened at a crucial juncture of the proceedings as Zverev tried to recover from a break trailing 1-2 in the fifth set. A set point down, Alcaraz faulted and served on the T on the second attempt, which the German argued had landed out. Nonetheless, chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein decided otherwise.
Alcaraz went on to consolidate the break and eventually ended up winning the fifth set on his way to laying hands at the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros. Zverev addressed the issue later during his press conference on Sunday and termed the incident ‘frustrating’.
“There’s a difference whether you’re down 3-1 in the fifth set or you’re back to 2-2… that’s the deciding difference. So yeah… it’s frustrating in the end,” the runner-up told the reporters.
The World No. 4 further noted that any official is prone to making a ‘mistake’.
“But it is what it is, umpires make mistakes, they’re also human and that’s okay. But of course, in a situation like that, you wish there wouldn’t be mistakes,” the German added.
This was notably the tenth meeting between Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz. The German led the head-to-head tally 5-4 before Sunday’s final but the Spaniard managed to equal that record with the win.
Alexander Zverev: “The second serve was out from the Hawkeye data, I saw that”
In the same press conference at the 2024 French Open, Alexander Zverev claimed he learned about the Hawkeye footage of the aforementioned line call to find out he was right.
“I heard that at 2-1, the second serve was out from the Hawkeye data, I saw that,” Zverev said in the press room.
The 27-year-old then wondered if the fifth set might have panned out differently had the chair umpire judged the Carlos Alcaraz serve rightly.
“You know, I break back there, I have chances than in the next service game, a fifth set can go the other way,” he added.
This was notably Alexander Zverev’s second loss in a Grand Slam final. He lost to Dominic Thiem in the final of the 2022 US Open despite gaining a two-set advantage. Thiem won the match 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6).
