{"id":324884,"date":"2023-08-21T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=324884"},"modified":"2023-08-21T03:58:56","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T03:58:56","slug":"cramping-alcaraz-in-tears-after-epic-djokovic-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=324884","title":{"rendered":"Cramping Alcaraz in tears after epic Djokovic defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> won the first set but couldn't come back from hand cramps, losing back-to-back sets to concede defeat to Novak Djokovic<\/a> in an epic Cincinnati Open final.<\/p>\n

Djokovic prevailed, winning two incredible tiebreaks to clinch the title 5-7, 7-6(7), 7-6(4).<\/p>\n

The Serbian star was up against the wall, down 4-2 in the second set, before saving match point at the two-hour mark for a remarkable comeback.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> World Cup hero had no idea of tragedy after thrilling win<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Awkward question' after $800k NRL star becomes 'big flop'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> England star's admission after 'gutting' loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The crucial moment came in the final set when his Spanish rival began to suffer hand cramps and could barely hold onto the racquet.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Djokovic prevailed in the heat to win after three hours and 49 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

Alcaraz was left despondent, dropping his head into his towel as he wiped away tears.<\/p>\n

"It's going to be tough for me to talk right now but I'll try to do my best," said a weary Alcaraz.<\/p>\n

"First of all, I want to congrat(ulate) Novak once again. It is amazing playing against you, sharing the court with you, learning from you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"This match was really close but I learned a lot from a champion like you, so congratulations to you and your team."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/1693426047654506903<\/a><\/p>\n

Alcaraz paid tribute to his older brother Alvaro, who watched on from the stands.<\/p>\n

"I have my brother here as well," he said with a trembling voice.<\/p>\n

"It's great to have you here, supporting me every day, to make me be a better person every day, playing in front of you as well, so thank you very much for being with me."<\/p>\n

It marked a comeback of sorts for Djokovic, who lost the Wimbledon final to Alcaraz earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Like Alcaraz, Djokovic was left exhausted by the three-set epic, collapsing to the ground after the final point.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/TennisTV\/status\/1693433051668234310<\/a><\/p>\n

"Boy, you never give up, man. Jesus Christ," Djokovic said of Alcaraz.<\/p>\n

"It's been a rollercoaster. Definitely one of the toughest and most exciting matches I was ever part of in any tournament, definitely, today.<\/p>\n

"It did feel like a grand slam final, even more than that.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

The match ended up being the perfect precursor to the US Open, the final grand slam of the year, which begins in earnest on August 29.<\/p>\n

"I'm, hoping we can play in several weeks time in New York\ufeff, that would be nice."<\/p>\n

He joked, "\ufeffFor the crowd, I don't know about me."<\/p>\n

Djokovic and Alcaraz head to Flushing Meadows with a 2-2 career head-to-head record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carlos Alcaraz won the first set but couldn't come back from hand cramps, losing back-to-back sets to concede defeat to Novak Djokovic in an epic […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324884"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=324884"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324887,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324884\/revisions\/324887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/324886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=324884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=324884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=324884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}