As a child, Carlos Alcaraz used to run home from school to watch the French Open on TV, dreaming of one day playing on the tournament’s clay courts and becoming champion. That dream became a reality Sunday as the Spaniard defeated world No. 4 Alexander Zverev in five sets to lift his third Grand Slam title — at only 21. In a gritty and often unpredictable performance on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Alcaraz showed his trademark fight and resilience against Zverev, coming back from two sets to one down to become the youngest man to win major titles on clay, grass and hard courts. “Honestly, first of all, I’m exhausted,” Alcaraz said after claiming his first title at Roland Garros. “It was a really tough one. It is a dream come true for me. “This tournament, I’ve watched it since I was 5, 6 years old … Being in this position right now is so, so special,” he added. With Alcaraz’s latest success comes yet another tattoo. He already has the dates of his Grand Slam wins at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon — the latter alongside a strawberry synonymous with the tournament — inked on his skin, and now plans to get the Eiffel Tower and Sunday’s date on his left ankle. It seems a fitting choice: After his victory in the City of Light, Alcaraz shared an old photo of himself aged 12, watching the tournament on a big screen in the shadow of the Paris landmark. With his victory over Zverev, the world No. 2 joins a long line of Spanish men to have lifted the French Open title. Rafael Nadal leads the way with a record-breaking 14 titles, while Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Carlos Moyá and Sergi Bruguera have all been champions since 1993. “I really wanted to put my name on that list as well,” said Alcaraz, who is now coached by 2003 winner Ferrero. Having sustained an arm injury ahead of this year’s French Open, the Murcia native withdrew from the Italian Open but has exceeded his expectations physically over the past two weeks, winning four of his seven matches in three sets. It was only against Zverev and new world No. 1 Jannik Sinner that Alcaraz went the distance — the first man in the Open Era to win the final and the semifinal of the French Open in five sets. After losing the third set against Zverev, letting slip a 5-2 lead, he had to dig deep into his energy reserves and raise his intensity, racing around the court and chasing down every shot. Alcaraz’s attention now turns to Wimbledon, where he will defend the title he won in dramatic fashion against Novak Djokovic last year, and then the Olympics in Paris, which will mean a return to Roland Garros. There, he hopes to play doubles alongside Nadal as well as going for a gold medal in the singles competition. (SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關詞匯 【等同于】děngtóng yú synonymous with closely connected 【堅持到底】jiānchí dàodǐ go the distance manage to continue until the end of a competition 小時候，卡洛斯?阿爾卡拉斯經常從學校跑回家看法國網球公開賽，夢想著有朝一日能在紅土場上拼殺奪冠。 周日，夢想變成了現實，西班牙人在五盤比賽中擊敗了世界排名第四的亞歷山大?茲維列夫，年僅21歲的他第三次奪得大滿貫冠軍。 在菲利普?夏蒂埃球場艱難而又跌宕起伏的比賽中，阿爾卡拉斯展現了他標志性的戰斗力和韌性，在兩盤比一盤落后的情況下頑強挽回局面，成為在紅土、草地和硬地賽場上都贏得大滿貫冠軍的最年輕選手。 阿爾卡拉斯在羅蘭?加洛斯首次奪冠后說：“老實說，我已經筋疲力盡了。這是一場非常艱難的比賽。對我來說是夢想成真了。”他補充說：“我5、6歲起就開始關注這項賽事，...... 現在能站在這個位置上，太特別了。” 伴隨這次奪冠，阿爾卡拉斯身上又多了一個紋身。他的皮膚已經紋上了美網和溫網奪冠的日期 —— 溫網日期旁還紋上了標志性的草莓圖案，現在他打算在左腳踝紋上埃菲爾鐵塔和6月9日。 這一切水到渠成： 在光之城奪冠后，阿爾卡拉斯分享了自己12歲時在巴黎地標埃菲爾鐵塔陰影下通過大屏幕觀看比賽的舊照。 戰勝茲維列夫后，這位世界排名第二的選手加入了西班牙男子法網冠軍的戰隊。拉斐爾?納達爾以前無古人的14次奪冠記錄領跑，而胡安?卡洛斯?費雷羅、阿爾伯特?科斯塔、卡洛斯?莫亞和塞爾吉?布魯格拉自1993年以來都曾奪冠。阿爾卡拉斯曾經表示：“我真的很想把自己的名字也寫進這份名單。”他現在的教練是2003年的冠軍費雷羅。 由于在今年的法網前手臂受傷，這個來自西班牙穆爾西亞的選手退出了意大利網球公開賽，但在過去兩周里，他的身體狀況超出了預期，七場比賽中四場都是三盤輕松取勝。 只有在對陣茲維列夫和新科世界排名第一的揚尼克?辛納時阿爾卡拉斯才打滿五盤 —— 他是公開賽時代第一位在法網決賽和半決賽中都打滿五盤的選手。 在與茲維列夫的第三盤比賽中，阿爾卡拉斯在5比2領先的情況下失利，他不得不發掘潛能，全力應對，在球場上飛奔，追趕每一粒擊球。 現在，阿爾卡拉斯轉而備戰溫布爾登，期待衛冕冠軍頭銜；去年在溫網他戲劇性地戰勝了諾瓦克?德約科維奇。 然后是征戰巴黎奧運會，屆時他將重返羅蘭?加洛斯。本屆奧運會他期待與納達爾一起參加雙打比賽，并向單打金牌發起沖擊。(Translated by Debra) | 