French Open - 'I hope I can win it before he starts beating us all!' - Alex Zverev reveals chat with Carlos Alcaraz

Alexander Zverev believes Carlos Alcaraz will win the French Open multiple times but cut a relieved figure when sending the Spaniard packing this time around.

Alcaraz headed to Roland-Garros as one of the favourites, but the 19-year-old’s run ended at the quarter-final stage as No. 3 seed Zverev won through in four sets.

A tight match saw Alcaraz mounting a comeback after dropping the first two sets, but Zverev avoided the decider when winning a thrilling fourth-set tie-break 9-7.

“I was s***ing my pants,” a rather honest Zverev said on-court afterwards. “I knew I had to play my best tennis today from the start on. He kept coming back.”

On his words with Alcaraz at the net, Zverev added: “He's an incredible player; I told him at the net that he will win this tournament a lot of times, not only once. I hope I can win it before he starts beating us all and we have no chance at all!"

Zverev appeared relieved to avoid a fifth set, especially with Alcaraz seemingly in the ascendancy when the fourth set headed to a breaker.

Alcaraz did not break until the third set, and come the fourth he denied Zverev when the German was serving for the match at 5-4.

The tie-break swung both ways, but after Alcaraz missed out on a set point at 6-5 up, Zverev converted his second match point to clinch it 9-7.

“Carlos is one of the best players in the world right now," Zverev said in his post-match press conference.

"It seems quite impossible to beat him; I knew I had to play my absolute best from the first point on and letting him go ahead in the match, getting [that boost of] confidence was going to be a very difficult thing for me to come back from and I’m happy that I won in four sets, I’m [glad] that I didn’t have to go to a fifth set.

"I think [my attitude] was extremely important, because I knew that it was going to be a very long and very physical match, and I couldn't show too many emotions because that also makes you tired. That also drains the energy of you. So I had to stay calm.

"Beating him at Roland Garros, Grand Slam, is very important for me. But next I have the world No. 1 or a 13-time champion here. So it's not really getting easier from here.”

He added: "I'm not 20 or 21 years old anymore; I'm 25. I am at the stage where I want to win, I'm at the stage where I'm supposed to win, as well. We still have the best players in the world playing with Novak, Rafa, and Roger coming back. I'm not sure at the age of 41 if he is going to win Grand Slams again but obviously you have to mention him.

"Then you have the new generation. But I think our generation is very strong as well. We have Tsitsipas, Medvedev who is a US Open champion. I mean, me, I won big events like the Olympics, as well. I think tennis is at quite a high level right now, men's tennis, and I think that you have the mix of the best in the world like Rafa and Novak and Roger, if he comes back, but you have to name the mix of the newer generation as well who are a threat to them, I think.”

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