Carlos Alcaraz played one of the ‘worst matches of his career’ to beat Jannik Sinner

Carlos Alcaraz served up one of the worst technical performances of his career in his French Open semi-final win against Jannik Sinner.

That’s the considered verdict of top coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who went on to explain the reasoning behind his analysis in a post on Instagram that threw up some interesting talking points.

The 21-year-old Spaniard won 2-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3 to become the youngest player to make Grand Slam finals on all three surfaces; hard-court, grass and the clay of Paris.

Italian Sinner, 22, struggled with cramps during the third set but still went the distance in a contest lasting four hours and nine minutes.

It was a battling performance from the Spaniard on a day when his forehand was misfiring at times, with Mouratoglou – who coached Serena Williams during her years of dominance and is currently working with Danish star Holger Rune – believes Alcaraz showed maturity as he found a way to win when he was not at his best.

“Carlos Alcaraz played one of the worst matches of his career technically – and he beat the world No 1,” stated Mouratoglou.

“The major takeaway of the Alcaraz vs Sinner match is that when nothing works, you can still win.

“I think it couldn’t be worse for Alcaraz for almost four sets. He was a million miles away from his level.

“He was not feeling, the ball, he was not feeling his legs. He was extremely slow in whatever he was doing because the emotional side took over everything.

“When you watch the start of the match, it’s 6-2 2-0 for Sinner. He was a million miles away from his opponent.

Carlos Alcaraz makes emotional confession as he prepares for first French Open final

“Suddenly he (Sinner) started cracking and he was going to cramp, but you didn’t know that.

“When you feel bad, you just focus on yourself. You don’t imagine there is another guy on the other side of the net who maybe doesn’t feel good either.

“If you stay mentally here and you keep trying, then you will always have a chance.

“What most people do when things don’t work is complain within themselves and they tell themselves I don’t feel anything, I’m playing terrible. I’m gonna lose.

“If you do this, you have no chance to get out of the water. Just think there is always hope.

“In the end, the physical side was important as Sinner was cramping because of his lack of preparation (due to a pre-tournament hip problem). In the end, the tennis played a part, but I wouldn’t say the biggest part.”

Mouratoglou also had an entry on his Instagram video as he added: “ Alcaraz – Sinner was the most expected match of this 2024 Roland Garros . We didn’t have the show we expected but we had an incredible scenario,

“Alcaraz defeating the best player in the world playing his lower tennis. This scenario brings a lot of takeaways for any player in the world, at any level. Try this next time you are outplayed.”

The Alcaraz vs Sinner match at Roland Garros has echoes of their clash at Indian Wells in March, as Sinner raced into an early lead and Alcaraz roared back as the Italian appeared to wilt physically.

As this story has been played out in both of their recent meetings, Alcaraz may believe he has a physical edge over his great rival when they next meet, possibly in the Wimbledon final next month.