Quick Comment: Carlos Alcaraz’s incredible self belief helps him isolate clutch moments to raise his game | Tennis News
4 min readUpdated: Jan 30, 2026 04:27 PM IST
There is a reason why Carlos Alcaraz has taken his place in sports lovers’ imagination as rapidly as he has racked up an impressive CV by the age of 22, one that even some tennis greats would be envious of. His flashy groundstrokes, easy-going charisma and entertaining style may play a role. But it probably has a lot more to do with the single word he wrote on the cameras after escaping into the Australian Open final with yet another sensational comeback victory: “Believe.”
A neatly packaged highlight reel will not do justice to the five-and-a-half-hour-long compelling piece of theatre that took place across a searingly hot Melbourne afternoon on the Rod Laver Arena on Friday. Alcaraz defeated the German third seed Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in the semifinals. That sheer number-scramble of a scoreline may itself elicit all sorts of conclusions, but Alcaraz willed this against-all-odds victory — facing a surging, peaking opponent and a badly cramping body — into existence through his mastery of the art of winning best-of-five sets tennis. It all hinges on that belief.
A match that was dead-set to be a straight-sets procession turned on its head when Alcaraz suffered cramps in the third set. It became a potboiler that ebbed and flowed the way the very best tennis matches often do: making up for a lack of match quality with high drama. A spiky Zverev, perturbed by what he believed was preferential treatment to his ailing opponent, used it as fuel to fire himself up and come back from two sets down.
Zverev has been criticised heavily in the past for getting passive in the big moments, but here, he rose to the occasion and rode his massive serve to play attack-first tennis. Alcaraz triumphed despite his opponent being at his best, not because he wobbled.
It’s not for nothing that the Spaniard has won 15 consecutive five-set matches and only ever lost one. He won last year’s French Open final saving three championship points. It’s thanks to a sporting maxim that has been repeated so often it borders on a cliche. Intense talent and self-belief make for a lethal cocktail.
In no sport does this hold truer than in tennis at the highest level. Best-of-five is often seen as a marathon; this match is likely to be viewed similarly. But it more closely resembles a collection of sprints. Any one of those sprints can turn on a significant moment. Alcaraz has quickly become an expert at isolating those moments and raising his game to meet them, even when his game is failing him.
On Friday, it came in the fifth set when he was down a break. A lesser player would get within themselves; an unsure one will try to change tactics. But Alcaraz, high on the pickle juice he had been chugging, knew that as well as Zverev had been serving, his strategy to be aggressive on return and jump on his serves will transfer the pressure. He fashioned five break points but couldn’t convert, but did not get down on himself to take the opportunity that presented itself when Zverev got tentative while serving for the match.
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There may be a plethora of technical ways to master the art of winning when things are not going one’s way. But first, it serves well to believe.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
