The world reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’ ridiculous shot versus Djokovic

Carlos Alcaraz may have lost his semifinal French Open match to Novak Djokovic, but no one can stop talking about an unworldly shot Alcaraz made. At 1-1 in the second set, a set that Alcaraz absolutely had to win to have any chance of beating Djokovic after Djoko had taken the first set, and with the score 15-love Alcaraz, Djokovic did what Djoko does and made his opponent run and run and run some more.

Only on this occasion, Djokovic happened to be playing a guy who is almost of his ilk. Few players ever could even sniff the thin air of greatness that is Novak Djokovic, but Carlos Alcaraz is one of those few people. Alcaraz is only 20 years old and will be winning Grand Slams, most likely, long after Djokovic has retired. But at this point, Djokovic can still beat Alcaraz.

And while Djokovic did defeat Alcaraz in the semis, there were two other storylines to come out of the match. One was that Alcaraz started cramping so badly that by the third round, he was basically a solid. Djokovic took rounds three and four at 6-1.

Carlos Alcaraz hits a shot heard round the world

But the other thing storyline is that magnificent shot that Alcaraz hit after being run around the court. Djokovic hit a soft shot to the baseline that would still have won the point against mortal humans only Alcaraz ran back, hit the ball while still sideways to the court, and struck the ball so well it cleared the net, went to the right of Djokovic (clearly out of Djoko’s reach) and dropped just inside the line for a winner. People noticed.

https://twitter.com/rolandgarros/status/1667173600497922049

Heck, Mike Tyson who was on hand for the match, couldn’t stop taking photos of what he just saw. (For those of you who don’t know, Tyson is a massive tennis fan. His daughter, Milan, is also quite the good player.)

Eric Stubbs of Barstool Sports is a huge fan. His tweet put it succinctly.

Tennis correspondent Stuart Fraser now only liked the shot, but he told you what you should do this summer. And he is correct.

Tennis TV tweeted words. But their words were also profound.

https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1667173736267542528

In the end, however, Carlos Alcaraz had to tip his cap.

https://twitter.com/carlosalcaraz/status/1667248887835262977

The finals of the French Open are Sunday and will feature Djokovic against Casper Ruud. Alcaraz won’t be involved in the final this year, but he will be back. And he will likely win several French Opens in his lifetime.