Carlos Alcaraz made the unorthodox decision to apologise to the French Open crowd after thrashing his quarter-final opponent Tommy Paul in straight sets on Tuesday evening.
The defending champion has been a forced to be reckoned with in Paris over the last week and a half, but reached his zenith against the American number-twelve seed on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Paul was thought to have suffered an abductor strain earlier in the competition, but battled mightily as he defeated Elmer Moller, Martin Fucscovics, Karen Khachanov, and Andrei Popyrin to reach the last eight.
However, the world No2 on clay offered a far tougher prospect for the 28-year-old, with the Spaniard refusing to offer his opponent a way into the first set.
Two more quickfire sets followed, with Alcaraz crashing through the 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win in just one hour and 34 minutes.
But before he could soak up the adulation of the French supporters, Alcaraz had a brief message of apology for the 15,000 inside the Roland-Garros showcourt.
Carlos Alcaraz had a cheeky message of apology for the French Open crowd on Tuesday
The number-two seed demolished Tommy Paul in an unstoppable straight-sets drubbing
Paul and Alcaraz played their quarter-final clash in front of a packed house at Roland-Garros
‘It’s always fun playing here in Paris,’ Alcaraz said after booking his semi-final against Lorenzo Musetti. ‘I have to say, I know you wanted to watch more tennis, I have to say sorry about it!
‘I have to do my work. But once again, it’s great to play in front of all of you. I just feel great. The energy is amazing match after match.
‘All I can say is thank you very much for coming and supporting tennis.’
The length of the one ‘great’ match staged in the prime-time night slot at the tournament has come under greater scrutiny over the last week as a roiling row over alleged sexism in scheduling matches threatened to overshadow the French Open.
There have been no women’s matches scheduled in the slot – which is advertised as a match between male or female players on the tournament website – with the head of the French tennis federation Gilles Moretton ham-fistedly explaining the decision as one that would allow the public to see ‘better matches’.
Tournament director and former world No1 Amelie Mauresmo was unwilling to discuss the inequality in the schedule, shutting down questions in a tense press conference.
A number of women at the French Open this year have spoken out about the impact of the ‘unequal treatment’, including Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and Jessica Pegula, who compared finding the situation the same year-on-year in the French capital to ‘hitting your head against a wall’.
Two-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur penned an elegant missive about the importance of ensuring that great women’s matches weren’t ‘ignored’ on social media, which also received widespread support.
Aryna Sabalenka fell victim to the early schedule for her quarter-final versus Zheng Qinwen
But tournament director Amelie Mauresmo has been insistent that women are treated fairly
At the quarter-final stage, women’s matches have also received the short shirt in the daytime schedule, with both ties on Tuesday and Wednesday taking place first and second.
The lower tiers of Philippe-Chatrier have often been emptier during the earlier matches at the tournament, with the mouthwatering match-up between World No1 Sabalenka and Paris Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen falling victim to reduced attendance.
With women’s matches limited by the three-set, rather than five-set format, tournament organisers likely hope that scheduling a men’s clash allows for more tennis to be on display for the nighttime spectators.
‘It has never been that the girls are not worthy to play at night. It’s never been this. I will not accept that you carry this message,’ Mauresmo had said during Friday’s press conference. ‘That’s really clear to me.
‘What I’m saying is I’m talking and we are talking, because I’m not the only one to make the decisions, about potential match length. In this perspective, it is hard to say that the two sets can go really fast when the three sets, you have three sets minimum.
‘So it’s, I don’t know, one-and-a-half hours, two hours, maybe more, I don’t know. For me it’s the length of the matches.’
But in an ironic twist, both Sablenka’s match versus Zheng (one hour and 57 minutes), and Iga Swiatek’s battle with Elina Svitolina (one hour and 41 minutes), lasted longer in straight sets than Alcaraz’s clash with Paul.
