World number seven Lorenzo Musetti commented on his match against Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals of Roland Garros. Musetti retired from the match with the score standing at 6/4, 6/7(3), 0/6, 0/2.
“Honestly, I`m very disappointed with how it ended, but it was still a great match overall. We both started incredibly strong, hitting the ball exceptionally well. I really had to play my absolute best level of the tournament just to stay competitive with him. I feel like I made a real step forward in my game, sensing that I`m getting closer to his standard.”
“I managed to maintain a high level for two hours, and I am extremely satisfied with that. It marks progress because my previous two matches were somewhat one-sided. Today, I had genuine opportunities; I could have potentially even taken a two-set lead, but credit to Carlos, he played wonderfully. He`s clearly in fantastic form,” the Italian stated during his press conference.
Musetti also elaborated on the inherent difficulties of playing against Alcaraz.
“At this moment, facing him is one of the most significant challenges in our sport. He is incredibly aggressive, which means you must constantly be sharp and alert. Physically, it`s demanding to compete against players like Carlos or Jannik [Sinner], especially when you have a one-handed backhand. Towards the end of the match, I started feeling some physical issues, so it was definitely tough.”
“Even before I walked onto the court, I understood that I would likely need to produce the best match of my entire career. In many ways, I handled it well: I was operating at the required level physically, technically, and mentally. Sometimes I actively sought to be proactive, particularly on return games. And I served very well today. Those first two sets were of a very, very high quality.”
“Naturally, in the third set and the final couple of games, I simply couldn`t match his level anymore due to the physical problems. That`s frustrating,” Musetti concluded.
