Paris – Carlos Alcaraz reminded me of what first appeared – the umpire of the chair, everyone watching on the stands and on TV, and his opponent, Ben Shelton – an astonishing charge volley to score points at the French Open on Sunday.
But Alcaraz knew it shouldn’t be counted. So after thinking about it temporarily, the defending champion of Roland Garros fested up and handed the points to Shelton during a 7-6 (8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory in the fourth round.
“It was a ‘hot shot’ of the day, so that’s a shame,” Alcaraz said with a smile later.
“Crazy shot,” Shelton said.
Here’s what happened: Early in the second set, Shelton often whipped the passing shots from Alcaraz’s net reach-up. So Alkaraz threw his racket – and as his equipment was flipping through the air, the strings somehow came into contact with the ball, as well as sent back to the other side of the court on the net.
Initially, second seed Alkaraz was awarded points. However, he went to the umpire of the chair to admit that he had no racket when he touched the ball. It was not allowed, so he granted the points to Shelton, an American who seeds on the 13th.
Alcaraz was applauded when officials informed the court of what had happened to the Philip Chatelier crowd.
“Okay, I couldn’t say anything,” but if I hadn’t said anything, I would have felt guilty,” explained Alcaraz. “It’s about whether I didn’t or know that I didn’t. …I have to say, I have to be honest with myself. I have to be honest with Ben.
It could have been a key moment as Alcaraz now went 30-40 instead of leading 40-30, giving Shelton the first breakpoint of the match. However, Alcaraz saved that one and the other five in that 20-point game to get a two-set lead in an interesting matchup between the 22-year-old pair who hit the ball hard.
“I thought it was pretty, you know? I thought he hit a volley. “I was surprised he was like, ‘No, letting go of the racket and throwing it…. A man with obviously a lot of sportsmanship.”
Major semi-finalist Shelton was offered forehand at up to 143 mph and up to 116 mph. Already a four-time Grand Slam champion, Alkaraz has shown out different parts of his repertoire.
The score was tighter than it showed. Shelton held three opportunities to own the opening set, leading the tiebreaker at 6-4, 6-5 and 7-6. Taking any of the following points, Shelton owns the set.
But Alcaraz, who meets US No. 12 Tommy Paul in Tuesday’s quarter-finals, saved the first with the winner of the service. Shelton netted his next backhand. And finally, Shelton finished off with Alcaraz’s body hitting the backhand.
Alcaraz then converted his second set point and closed the 15-stroke exchange with the downline forehand that caused a mistake from Shelton.
The third set goes to Shelton as Alcaraz puts a forehand into the net, with a bunch of Americans punching the air, then punching his chest and saying, “Let’s go, baby! Come on!”
The fourth rocked Alcalaz’s path when he set a breakpoint that claimed a 2-1 edge using the drop shot winner, allowing him to win 11 times in a row at Roland Garros three hours and 19 minutes later.
