What Tsitsipas complained about when he met Alcaraz at the French Open

The 2024 French Open ended in the quarter-finals for Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who could be seen complaining about his opponent Carlos Alcaraz.

Tsitsipas accused the Spaniard of an “extended grunt”, per Eurosport.

The incident occurred during the second set tie-break, with Alcaraz following his cross-court forehand with a loud noise. Tsitsipas’ shot hit the net, and he was then seen exchanging heated words with the umpire.

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The Greek felt Alcaraz had gone too far with his post-shot grunt, telling the umpire, “When I'm about to hit the shot, there is an extended grunt.”

Videos show Alcaraz making a loud noise following his shot, with Tsitsipas seemingly suggesting it was intentionally off-putting as, “The grunt is extended. It's like a millisecond before I hit it,” per Eurosport.

Given Stefanos Tsitsipas’ comments, it seems as though his frustration with Alcaraz’s grunt had been building, telling the umpire, “Before it was manageable, but that last forehand was a little bit borderline too much.”

Tennis legend John McEnroe was on commentary during the exchange, his view was, “it did seem like it was a long grunt, but it's not the first time Carlos has done it. You've got to be used to that.”

Tsitsipas’ complaints were met with boos from the crowd inside Court Philippe-Chatrier, with McEnroe suggesting he had perhaps been a little naive, “I knew he was going to say that. He made the point but he's going to lose some crowd support, so is it worth it?”

Alcaraz does not think he exaggerated the grunting. “I heard his complaints about me dragging out my screams too long during the tie-break court exchange. He is free to think about what he wants, but I can say that I didn’t make it longer than normal and that I didn’t mean to bother him,” the Spaniard is quoted by Tennis Tonic.

Per the BBC, Tsitsipas lost the matchup with Alcaraz by straight sets, meaning he was unable to match his best French Open finish, reaching the final in 2021.

Following his defeat, the Greek player told reporters at the post-match press conference, “I was pretty sure I could face Carlos today and do something different, but the kid is just too good,” per The Daily Express. These comments suggest maybe it was just the “extended grunt” that was too much for him on the day!

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