Carlos Alcaraz 'learned' from Novak Djokovic experience to deal with French Open scare

Carlos Alcaraz redeemed himself at the French Open as he reached his first final at the tournament. The Spaniard outlasted Jannik Sinner 2-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3.

It came 12 months after a rough experience against Novak Djokovic in the semi-final, when Alcaraz barely won a game when he started cramping.

The cramps started to set it again against Sinner but Alcaraz explained that he had learned from his last experience in the semis, which helped him dig deep to come through in five sets.

The 21-year-old wasn’t the only one struggling on Friday, as Sinner also admitted to cramping as a result of the tension. And it was something that Alcaraz picked up on.

“I saw that he was having a bit of a hard time, I had cramps and so did he in the third. We had to fight,” the world No. 3 said after reaching his third Grand Slam final.

“I learned from last year's match against Djokovic, I was in the same position as today, but I know that in those moments you have to be calm and continue because the cramps will go away.”

Explaining how he worked around the cramping issues, the two-time Major winner continued: “You have to be there fighting, trying to make shorter points. The third set was a little strange, the fourth and fifth were a great match, very good tennis. I am very happy for everything I have done today, waiting for my moment until the end, which I took.”

But Sinner also thought he handled his own physical problems well during the four-hour contest. The Italian, who will be the new world No. 1 on Monday, said: “Yeah, I was, for sure, some tension.

“Tension and after, cramps a little bit. I handled these situations a little bit better now. I had previous years a couple of, you know, of these kind of moments where I couldn't handle them.