Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz dragged into 'disgraceful' scenes

Novak Djokovic has jumped to the defence of Carlos Alcaraz after their epic showdown in the French Open semi-final was marred when the 20-year-old Spanish sensation was hampered with injury. Djokovic is one win away from becoming the first male tennis player ever to reach 23 grand slam titles having overcome the doubters to defeat Alcaraz 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

While the match was living up to the hype having seen Djokovic outsmart a nervous Alcaraz in the first set, and the Spaniard firing back in the second, things took a turn in the third when the 20-year-old went down with cramp.

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Alcaraz hit a forehand into the net at 1-1, before stopping and dropping his racquet. The Spaniard then appeared to try and stretch out his legs as he was suffering from cramp.

"He is in a bad way. What a time for this to happen," Eurosport commentator Simon Reed said. Djokovic showed class and walked over to check on Alcaraz as the chair umpire tried to help him.

However, in shock scenes, Alcaraz couldn't continue and needed a medical time out. Since it wasn't the change of ends, Alcaraz was then forced to concede his service game.

The fans were left either confused with the ruling or angry at how it unfolded and proceeded to whistle and boo on court Philippe-Chatrier. The chair umpire attempted to calm the crowd down at the change of ends, to no avail.

"Have you ever seen Alcaraz suffer [like this before]? We’ve seen an awful lot of Carlos over the last year or so, and never seen this," Reed added. Alcaraz never recovered from this point on and only managed to win one more game across two sets to hand Djokovic the win.

To make matters worse, the crowd turned on Djokovic towards the ends of the match. Fans were left fuming Djokovic was celebrating points when Alcaraz was clearly hampered. The Serbian had every right to pump himself up as he edged towards history.

Tennis fans were left absolutely stunned at the scenes. But the booing certainly angered viewers with some calling out the fickle French Open crowd for the 'disgraceful' atmosphere in the semi-final.

Novak Djokovic addresses booing fans at French Open

After the match, Djokovic addressed what it was like to be constantly booed, which occurred during the semi-final. And the history-maker's three-word answer summed up his winning mentality.

"I don't mind," he said. "It's not the first and probably not the last time. I just keep winning," a smiling Djokovic said. Djokovic showed class at the net towards his injured opponent and revealed he told Alcaraz the youngster would go on to win multiple Roland Garros titles.

Djokovic said it was unfortunate for the crowd and Alcaraz, but was adamant the Spaniard could hold his head up high.

Alcaraz was left devastated after the match and admitted the nerves got to him for the first time in a while. "I have never felt something like I did today," Alcaraz admitted. "I have never felt that tension that I did in that match.

"I started the match really nervous. Really good rallies, tough rallies, drop shots, sprints, rallies. It's a combination of a lot of things. But the main thing, it was the tension that I had all the two first sets.

"I started to cramp in my arm. At the beginning of the third set I started to cramp every part of my body, not only the legs. It was really tough for me to move in the third set, and in the fourth let's say I had a little chance, but it was really tough, my full body started to cramp."

Djokovic will now play Casper Ruud in the final.

Nick Kyrgios weighed-in on the drama and said Alcaraz will learn from this drama and will be better off when he learns to keep his nerves under check.

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