Tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a crushing defeat against world number three Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinal game of the French Open 2024, which took place on June 4 in Paris. However, the Greek-born star wasn't happy with the extended grunt from the 21-year-old during the clash of quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Notably, Alcaraz made a loud noise before the Spaniard smashed his return shot over the net when he was down in the second-set tiebreak. Tsitsipas said the act was "a little bit borderline too much" in two separate complaints to the umpire. The 25-year-old dropped 6-1 in the tiebreak after falling behind the Spaniard in the second set. Alcaraz let out a grunt just before the Greek player's shot found the net.
"I knew he was going to say that. He made the point but he's going to lose some crowd support, so is it worth it? I get it though, because it did seem like it was a long grunt, but it's not the first time Carlos has done it. You've got to be used to that. Before it was manageable, but that last forehand was a little bit borderline too much," Stefanos Tsitsipas said.
It was the longest grunt of the evening from Carlos Alcaraz: John
Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, and he will now face Jannik Sinner in the semi-final game, which is slated to take place on June 7. However, after the match, former tennis star Mats Wilander says he can see why Tsitsipas got frustrated by Alcaraz's screaming during the game of Roland Garros.
"It was an extended grunt. I think he finished it before Tsitsipas hit the ball for sure, but it was the longest grunt of the evening from Carlos Alcaraz. Maybe there’s one question that we need to ask Carlos; when does he grunt and when does he not grunt? Because it does seem like he grunts when he hits the ball hard, but the next time he does it, he doesn’t grunt," John McEnroe said on Eurosport commentary.
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