"Alexander Zverev was robbed", "French Open should do better" - Fans irate by wrong line call during German's title loss against Carlos Alcaraz

A line-call decision controversially overturned by the umpire that became a huge moment in the 2024 French Open final between Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz has left fans furious. The Spaniard ended up clinching La Coupe de Mousquetaires 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in four hours and 19 minutes.

During the fifth set, Alcaraz, who was on his second serve 15-40 down at 2-1, served a ball that was called out. The chair umpire overturned the call much to the German's surprise as he tried to persuade the umpire to get a better look before passing a judgement. His pleas were in vain as the decision was made and to make things worse, the Spaniard held his serve.

However, the visual on the TV showed that Alcaraz's serve was out.

Fans were furious with the situation, as this potentially altered the outcome. One fan said that Alexander Zverev was robbed and Roland-Garros was at fault.

"Zverev was robbed. RG should do better."

Another fan said the tournament wanted Carlos Alcaraz to win and blamed the umpire for making the error. They were angry, as nothing was going to be done.

"That was a game changer they want Alcaraz the golden boy to win. Completely took momentum from Zverev that was gonna break. It’s always this umpire that does poor decisions and mistakes he’s the worst. But they won’t do nothing about it," the fan wrote.

Here are some other reactions from fans with some calling for the use of the shot spot.

"Roland Garros needs to start utilizing shot spot. That’s inexcusable," a fan said

"Brutal. Changed the match. No better argument for shot spot than this. Gotta get the calls right if you can," a fan opined.

"On the whole tournament they are giving every call to Alcaraz. In this final it's constantly in favour of Alcaraz. That was a double fault on 3 break points. Totally stolen Zverevs break on the 5 set," another fan opined.

Here are some other reactions from fans:

"the umpire seems to have lost his sight," a fan said.

"This call likely significantly affects the result of a Major championship. Either don’t show the mark on TV… or use Hawkeye. So brutal," said another.

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"I'll be back next year" - Alexander Zverev expresses desire to win the French Open

Alexander Zverv finishes second to Carlos Alcaraz

During the trophy presentation, Alexander Zverev thanked his team for sticking with him during hard times and said that though they came agonizingly close, he hoped to win the trophy together one day.

"And of course, to my team as well. Thanks for not only the last two weeks but obviously the long journey we had, also since the injury on this court," Zverev said.

"We were close today – not enough, but hopefully one day we will be able to hold this trophy together, so thank you," he added, expressing his French Open ambition.

Zverev thanked the fans for creating an amazing environment throughout the tournament and expressed his love for Court Philippe-Chatrier, saying he'll be back next year.

"It’s been amazing; the atmosphere was amazing; the support that I got was amazing and I really love to play on this beautiful court – one of my favorite courts on the tour. I’ll be back next year," the World No. 4 said.

This was Zverev's second loss in a Grand Slam final. His previous defeat came to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 US Open.