In the third set, both men fell behind on their serves, and both found ways to survive. Alcaraz did it with drop shots, high-kicking serves into the ad court, and wrong-footing forehands. Djokovic did it with big first serves, surprising second serves, great gets, backhand winners and, when he faced a match point at 4-5, a blistering ace.
The contest deserved a third-set tiebreaker, and it got one. This may have seemed like the moment when Djokovic would go into his famous lockdown mode, and teach the teen a lesson in big-stage tennis. Instead, it was Alcaraz who reined in his sometimes wild shot selection, and hit with more clarity than he had all day. He hit a swing-volley winner to go up 1-0; a down-the-line backhand winner to go up 3-1; a big forehand to go up 4-2. On match point he powered through a forehand winner to clinch it. The errors that plagued him earlier (he made 58 on the day) had vanished.
While Alcaraz was locking down, Djokovic was losing some control. He missed a backhand return long to go down 3-5, and a regulation forehand long to go down 4-6. He said he had trouble with Alcaraz’s spins in the thin Madrid air.
“Many times I gave him free points there,” Djokovic said. “His kick [at] altitude here is huge, and it was just difficult to deal with his ball, and I wasn’t feeling my return from [the backhand] side.
“Wasn’t able to capitalize when it mattered. He did. Congrats to him.”