Alexander Zverev ML (+250) over Carlos Alcaraz
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- Zverev is 5-4 all-time against Alcaraz, including 2-1 in majors.
- This is not the same Zverev who fell apart in the US Open final against Dominic Thiem, as he is much better at locating his first and second serve.
The 2024 French Open final is set, with Carlos Alcaraz set to take on Alexander Zverev for the year’s lone clay court major title. Both men have been playing incredible tennis, which should mean a competitive match from Roland Garros on Sunday. In our tennis betting picks for the French Open, we break down Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Zverev in the final.
Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz was unable to complete his semifinal match in the 2023 French Open in a healthy way, with injuries forcing him out of contention against Novak Djokovic. But he has rebounded nicely in 2024, beating Jannik Sinner in a five-set classic to reach his first French Open final. Alcaraz trailed by a set on two occasions against Sinner, but managed to win the second, fourth, and fifth sets to make it to the final, where he will look for his first Roland Garros crown.
Alcaraz already has two major titles to his name, having won the US Open title in 2022 and the Wimbledon title in 2023. That championship experience could help him here against a player in Zverev who has yet to achieve success in a major final. But the Spaniard will need more than just experience to win this match, as he will need to neutralize the big hitting of Zverev to grab a third leg of a career Grand Slam.
For Alcaraz, the key to this match will be keeping his unforced error count down. He really struggled with that early on against Jannik Sinner in the semifinals before turning things around over the final two sets. But letting Zverev get off to a fast start due to unforced error accumulation could be a problem for Alcaraz, as the Zverev serve can make it hard to come back from an early deficit.
Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev reached the French Open final by defeating Casper Ruud in the semifinals. Ruud was dealing with some stomach discomfort during the match, which gave Zverev the opening to come back from dropping the first set to win that match in four sets. But Zverev may have won the match even if Ruud was healthy, as he was spectacular over the final three sets to set up this tantalizing clash for the French Open title in 2024.
Zverev has taken care of business against a murderers row of opponents over the last fortnight. He took down Rafa Nadal in the first round, albeit a compromised Nadal, along with players like Alex De Minaur and Holger Rune. But the heir apparent to the throne of the best tennis player in the world in Alcaraz may be an even tougher challenge for the German, who did not have to play as much tennis in the semifinals as his opponent in the final.
The key to this match for Zverev will be continuing to hammer in first serves. Zverev’s serving has become a major storyline in 2024, as he has cut down on double-faults while increasing his first serve percentage. That will need to continue if Zverev is going to avoid getting sucked into the kind of long, grinding rallies that Alcaraz uses to break the will of his opponents.
Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Zverev Head-to-Head
Alcaraz and Zverev have played nine times in their careers so far and the results have been evenly matched. Zverev has won five of the nine Carlos Alcaraz vs Alexander Zverev matches all-time, including two of their three matches in major tournaments. That includes the lone encounter between these two men at Roland Garros, where Zverev defeated Alcaraz in four sets in the quarterfinals of the 2022 French Open.
Zverev and Alcaraz have faced off twice in 2024, with each man winning one of those encounters. Zverev took their clash at the Australian Open, doing so in four sets in the quarterfinals down under. But Alcaraz got revenge at the Masters 1000 tournament at Indian Wells, winning in straight sets in their quarterfinal matchup in California. Based on the head-to-head matchups between these men, we could be in for an evenly-matched affair on Sunday.
