Carlos Alcaraz may be in another Grand Slam final, but not in the way he’d planned. “It’s never fair. I want to win but not like this,” he said following a premature end to his semifinal against Lorenzo Musetti after the Italian was forced to withdraw due to injury. Nevertheless, Alcaraz has the chance to defend his crown. But it looks like Alcaraz will be doing it without showing us what he’s got, unlike the likes of Novak Djokovic and Aryna Sabalenka. And no, we’re not talking about on-court skills.

Earlier in the tournament, Sabalenka drew the attention of the internet with her dance moves to Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk’ as she descended the stairs to the dressing room.  The world No. 1, who is at her playful best off the court, showed off what her best looks like off the court with her impromptu staircase choreography. Then Djokovic mimicked Sabalenka by dancing a jig of his own on those very steps, but to the tune of Wodan Boys’ ‘Slam It Like Djokovic.’ As was only appropriate. “What about that, Sabalenka?” Djokovic playfully ribbed as his post-match dance went viral.

After concluding his match against Musetti, who else but Alcaraz was to walk down that now infamous staircase? The speakers were noticeably silent, but Alcaraz was pumped. Would he, too, entertain us with his dance moves? A little shimmy or a jive, perhaps? Well, at least for now the answer was no, as Alcaraz turned to the waiting camera and said, “I’m not like Novak and Sabalenka. I’m not gonna dance guys,” with a wry smile on his face.

Despite a playful end, it wasn’t an easy battle for Carlos Alcaraz on the court. He had to grind hard before Musetti retired due to a thigh injury. Reflecting on the match, Alcaraz said, “The first two sets were really tough. When I won the second set, I was relieved. Then in the third set I knew what I had to do. I knew I could push him to the limit by just keep being aggressive. I managed to be myself, be more calm, I could see much clearer and play great tennis.”

Owing to his amazing run in the ongoing French Open, Alcaraz has been receiving praise from across the tennis world. Ahead of the summit clash, even John McEnroe spoke highly about the Spaniard.

Carlos Alcaraz earns praise from John McEnroe

The reigning French Open champion has been in superior form of late. Before the French Open, he won the Italian Open, defeating Jannik Sinner in the summit clash. With Carlos Alcaraz through to another final, McEnroe was impressed by the Spaniard’s consistency.

During his appearance on TNT Sports, McEnroe said, “I have never seen a player as complete that can do everything at his age with a smile on his face most of the time. It is really remarkable that he has so many options. I think sometimes that’s when he gets in trouble. He can hit his way out of trouble, but he can hit himself into trouble. A little bit of that was going on early in the match, where he sort of righted the ship in the tiebreaker. He played a great tiebreaker, and then his energy level went up, and Musetti’s clearly dropped down.”

Carlos Alcaraz will face the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner in the final on Sunday. It’ll be interesting to see if the Spaniard can defend his French Open title.