Latest / Bleacher Report / Andre Agassi & TNT React to Carlos Alcaraz's Semifinals Win vs. Musetti | 2025 Roland-Garros

Transcript

Andre Agassi & TNT React to Carlos Alcaraz's Semifinals Win vs. Musetti | 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Adam Lefko here along with Hall of Famer
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Lindsay Davenport, the man that knocked off Djokovic twice, Sam Querry,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Jim Currier, and the aforementioned Andre Agassi. It was an
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: unbelievable first set, Russetti playing his best, we got to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a tie break in the second, and then once Carlos
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: took that, it was over. Pretty much a match played
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: under a roof, a battle of the Silver and Bronze
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: from the twenty twenty four Olympics.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Sam thoughts early thought, really, look, I think everyone expected
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: al Karez to win this match. People weren't giving Ussetti
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: a chance. And when Mussetti took the first set, it
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: kind of shocked everyone a little bit. You and I
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: were in the green room. We're saying, all right, no
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: big deal, looks like al Kaz will get this in four.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: And then al Krez in the second set broken, Mussetti
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: broke back, traded breaks early, and then later in the
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: second set, when al Kraz was serving for it, Massetti
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: broke back, and that's when I got nervous. That's when
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I got worried, and I was kind of thinking to myself, Hey,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: this looks like Mussetti could possibly win this, and from
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: that point forward it was all Altcrez dem thro steamed
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: through the second set, tiebricker third set six. So that's
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: when the groin injury popped up for Mafetti and that
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: fell fe Row.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: This is when the physio was called down five and
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the third came over looked on the bench. It would
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: be a bagel in that third set, and then from
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: then we only got two more games before it was over. Lindsay,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: what was.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Your reaction as this was happening. Sadness.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: There's a reason why, as you mentioned, it's the toughest
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: lam out there Physically, it just takes everything out of
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: you and you could see musseti and nothing left. Then
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: gets gets hurt as well, too tough to go through
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: this tournament and stay injury free, and it.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Was a shame.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: You never want to see it end like this. Love
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: the way Mussetti was playing in the beginning, but who
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: would have thought the last game we won was to
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: get to a tie break in the second set.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: That's when we thought it was going to get good.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Alcarez wins the last nine games, thirty three of the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: last forty points twenty four to five in that third set.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Great sportsmanship here from Carlos as well, going to the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: crowd getting them to cheer for Mussetti, who had a
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: great tournament. This is the first retire that we have
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: had here. I believe it was since Vera.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: And they rolled his.
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: Ankle on against rapped a couple of years ago. That's
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: bad injury to watch this one. Musetti should hopefully be
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: back for the grass court season. We didn't see Azva
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: of the rest of the year when he ripped three
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: ligaments in his ankle.
• 2:13
  Speaker 5: This was not that, thankfully.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: What it does mean, though, is Alcarez goes to his
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: second straight final here at Roland Garros, his fifth major final.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: By the way, he is four and oh in major finals.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Thirteen straight wins here for Carlos. Alcarez now twenty one
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and one on clay, and he moves to the head
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: to head six to one over Mussetti lost that first one,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: goes sixth straight. It was an absolute pleasure listening to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: you guys in the booth as we look at the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: draw here. I'm just curious, Andre, how was it?
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: How did it feel?
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, listen, it's always a pleasure to
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: be out there and watch something live. You know, you
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: get more senses than maybe at home TV. So it's
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: a thrill to be here, thrill to be here with
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: next to Jim and with Tanti and the whole the
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: loved experience. I mean, I thought Mussetti came out like
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: with purpose and very intentional Acharaz came out I don't
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: think really being off or even that nervous. I think
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: he was actually got unsettled by the fact that Mussetti
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: was just letting a fly and hanging toe to toe
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: while redlining a bit, Like it felt like he was
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: redlining a bit. He was doing it consistently enough to
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: cause alcorizm maybe second guess. Then Alcaraz like completely lost
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: his range. I mean it's like his range was all
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: over the map. He was like missing easy open cord
• 3:27
  Speaker 5: drop volleys. He was hitting some returns bottom of the net.
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: It was like he was really shocking. Took him a
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: while to settle down, but then he kind of put
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: it back down into second gear, aim into big targets,
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: got more comfortable, started finding his range, and you know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: but credit to Mussetti, because I really didn't think he
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: had the gear to hang and the threat in Alcaraz
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: as much as he did. And too bad for the injury,
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: because I think we would have been for a pretty
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: spectacular third and four sets.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: And this is why it's so important to get through
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: the early rounds unscathed. Have to believe that. Because he
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: played three consecutive four set matches, that's a big part
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: of why the injury came. It's the same thing that
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: happened when they played in the Monte Carlo final earlier
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: this year. Mussetti played some deep, deep matches in a
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: route of seven to six and a third. In the semifinals,
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: he wins the first set against Carlos and then Carlos
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: wins six to one, six love, and he had it
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: was the other leg at that tournament that bothered him.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: So it's always the adage. You can't win the major
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: in the first week, but you can lose it if
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: you play too much tennis. And I'm not saying that
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: Lorenzo would have beaten him necessarily, but he would have
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: been able to finish the match, I think if he
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: hadn't played that much.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: And there's a lot to.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: Be said for the difference between the best and the
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: rest in that regard, right, I mean, you got the
• 4:41
  Speaker 5: roughs of the Novaks, of the Rogers. We've seen him
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: for years. He got to alkorreze the sinners. They can
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: go out there and dismiss opponents all the way into
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: the quarterfinals, all the way in the semifinal and Setti
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: it's like he goes out there and romanticizes every point.
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: I mean, he gets into it. Anybody that plays against
• 4:57
  Speaker 5: him is gonna you know, he's gonna make him more card.
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: He's not gonna lose to the people you shouldn't lose to,
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: but he's gonna work hard to make sure that happens.
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: And I think physically that did take a toll.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I thought you guys gave some good foreshadowing talking about
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: how he needs to step up in the first set
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: with his power, and then the question was can he
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: sustain that for the entire match. We saw how that went. Alcaraz, though,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: is not unfamiliar with being down early here at Roland Garros.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: It's down two to one against Center last year in
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the semifinals, down two to one against Verev as well.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I felt in the second set when we heard him
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: yelling Bambos, which is when I felt like he was
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: channeling that fourth and fifth gear. Is that what you
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: saw as well? Yeah?
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: And I feel like with Alcarez, I feel like he
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: redlines sometimes from the first point he hits four hands
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: in the triple digits, the second, third, fourth point of
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: the match and then kind of says, all right, this
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: is gonna find its form eventually. Maybe it's in fifteen minutes,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: maybe it's in an hour. And I feel like too,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: I mentioned again to this view in the green room
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: back in the day, when Roger Feeder gave a come on,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: it was intimidating, and I think sometimes when the top
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: players that don't give a lot of emot or vocal
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: kind of come on, it's tough. And Alchoriz did just
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: that on the second set. Once you heard him give
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the vombos and then the second bombos.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Whenever he heard lindsay give the vombos and matter he
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: was settled in.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: But what was first does get does he get dialed
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: in Lindsey and then yell the vamos or does he
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: use the vamos to try to get dialed in?
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: I was gonna say, I think he uses the vamos.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: You'll hear it early in the matchupter one point to
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: try and get his energy up.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I also think he's getting.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Older and more mature and kind of learning how to
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: manage himself a little bit better. It's done so well
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: in Grand Slam finals.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: But I think he.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Knew he was lagging early on, and then he started
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: to kind of amp up that energy to get back
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: into it.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: What did we learn, Because I've heard you speak so
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: much about Alkarizi's movement, to see him in person, what
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: was it like face to face?
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: Well, listen, I've seen him play enough. I was a
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: little surprised he didn't rely on his legs a little earlier.
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: He was, like to Sam's point, he was relying on
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: his ability to make make shots and just basically boss
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: Mussetti around the court. What he really needed to do
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: was truss his legs a lot more a lot earlier,
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: make Mussetti redline for as long as periods as possible,
• 7:08
  Speaker 5: wait till his game found his range before he starts
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: going up into that new stratosphere of tennis that he's
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: bringing to the table. So watching him up close and personal,
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: I can say with confidence Ascaraz only gets better.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: From here now.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: That's no fun though, Alcarez right, we don't want to
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: see him measured and working on the game. We want
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: to see like the shot making from day one. Do
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: you guys think sometimes that with Alcaraz he's an entertainer.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: He's a tennis player, but he's an entertainer, and sometimes
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: I think he's okay with Hey, I'm not going to
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: play the most measured game. I'm going to go out
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: there and entertain these fans.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I don't think he can actually control it. I think
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: that his team, and I've talked to one Carlos Ferrero
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: about this, they've tried to bring him to a more
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: percentage tennis style of play. And it was a couple
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: of summers ago back in the US, he was playing
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: in Canada, was playing in Cincinnati, and they had a
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: heart to heart after it didn't go well for him
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: in Canada, and he told one Carlos, look, that's not
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: who I am. I don't want to play that restrained
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: style of tennis.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: It's not fun.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: And that's the thing that I think his team is
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: trying to figure out how to keep it fun for
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: him but make it more effective by okay, maybe you
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: unleash the beast when you're up in a match that
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: you're not going to lose. But his ability to hit
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: shots that no one expects is like nothing we've ever seen.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: He's like Evil Knievel if you're old enough to remember
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: who he was. He's a daredevil with a tennis racket,
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: taking chances that no one else is willing to take.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: But he can also crash. And that's what the greatest players,
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: the most consistent players that we've seen, they just don't
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: beat themselves. And if you look at Carlos, sometimes he
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: has matches where he does, and that's the push and
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: the pull, the yin and the yang with him, and
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: it's a great thing. It's a great time in the
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: world to be alive if you love tennis, because you
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: get to see this guy now. And I think we
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: both feel like if he does actually put it all
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: together at his actual apex, it won't be quite as
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: thrilling to work. It'll be a little more boring.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: How much of an advantage is it in terms of
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: rest before what we're expecting is a long drawn out,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: possible five set of this season.
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: I mean, listen, I'd much rather be the first semis
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: out of the way in this tournament especially, I remember
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: back in the good old days, if I can walk
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: down Amnesia Lane where we used to have to play,
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: you know, Saturday Semis, Sunday finals, you know at Flushing.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: I mean there it was even more important to make
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: sure you were the first first match off. But on
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: this surface, long long matches, long points, longer games. I mean,
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: you want to get in the books. And I think
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: the only person besides the thousands that are here watching
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: that want to see an epic five st no one
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: more than al KaAZ right now, because if they can
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: help take it out of each other, I don't think
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: Carlos is gonna mind that, not one bit
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: At