Alcaraz, against the player who didn't know he had already won: Dzumhur, the actor who defeated Nadal

Carlos Alcaraz has reason to be happy. The Spanish tennis player is finding brilliant form at Roland Garros , where his first matches have helped him get into a cruising rhythm. Playing top-level tennis, very sure of what he needs to do on the court and with his confidence sky-high, the world number two is confirming that he has arrived in Paris with the intention of continuing to make history .

He's only 22 years old, but Alcaraz is already beginning to show signs of being a player who could mark an era . He already has four Grand Slam titles under his belt, and every time a major arrives, he's considered one of the clear favorites to win. His important victory in Rome not only allowed him to secure a trophy he hadn't yet claimed, but also made him the world number two, thereby managing to avoid Jannik Sinner until the final .

And, if avoiding the best player at the moment wasn't good enough, the draw also sided with him , avoiding any serious opponents on his side of the draw. So, on paper, his biggest challenges in reaching a hypothetical title match would be Holger Rune or Lorenzo Mussetti , but he'd only face them in the semifinals. Plenty of good players, but no terrible opponents along the way , which could serve to boost Alcaraz's confidence.

It's true that he had a brief moment of distraction against Fabian Marozsan , which he paid for by losing a set, but he quickly recovered and turned things around , staying calm and raising his level of play. This is how he secured his place in the third round of Roland Garros, where he will now face Damir Dzumhur , a player who was the protagonist of one of the biggest anecdotes of the tournament so far... due to a mistake that only he was unaware of.

His match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard was truly intense, with long rallies and hard-fought points from both players. So much so that, at one point in the match, the Bosnian, in a good exchange, forced the young Frenchman to send his ball long . The chair umpire called the result, the Frenchman headed to the net, and the crowd roared wildly... but Dzumhur picked up a new ball to serve again .

The Bosnian was the only player on the court who hadn't realized he'd won the match . So, upon realizing what was happening, he quickly went to the net to shake hands with his opponent and the chair umpire, while simultaneously asking his box for an explanation about what had happened. Now, one round later, he'll face Alcaraz, a match in which he'll have to be at his best if he wants to upset him. However, the most important victory of his career came against Rafa Nadal .

It happened in 2016, in the fourth round of Miami , where Dzumhur defeated a Spaniard who, due to physical problems, eventually retired . It was one of those victories that confirmed that the path he had chosen was the right one and that opting for tennis was the right choice, just a few years after having had some important acting roles in his country . He also tried his hand at football, but tennis was his first choice, and he certainly wasn't wrong in the slightest.

He reached world number 23 and has three career titles —St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Antalya—but he knows he's living a different life right now. At 33, he knows these are the last good years of his career, so he's trying to enjoy the court as much as he can. This will be the first time Alcaraz and the Bosnian face each other, in a setting that couldn't be better : Roland Garros. Alcaraz has a clear mission , against the player who didn't even know he'd won.