All that was missing was a “You cannot be serious.”
John McEnroe and brother Patrick were working the ESPN telecast for Carlos Alcaraz’s stunning withdrawal on Tuesday night during his quarterfinal match against Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“Thats it?…Wow,” a shocked John said as Alcaraz walked to the net trailing 6-3. 3-1.
“We didn’t see that coming,” Patrick responded.
Alcaraz had been visited by a trainer in the previous changeover, though it was brief and the issue did not appear serious. Alcaraz later said he had an injury to his right abductor (hip muscle).
Patrick suggested that Alcaraz’s coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, was “surprised himself” based on his reaction.
“What did I just see?” John asked.
“Completely out of nowhere,” Patrick answered.
“You talk about a bummer. Here we are saying this guy is going to keep fighting, he’s a kid and he doesn’t know what it means to quit,” John said before joking that the trainer “should be fired” for his role in Alcaraz’s decision.
The shocking move ended a brilliant run for the 18-year-old Spaniard at Flushing Meadows, in which he became a fan favorite for his magnificent upset of No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round.
