Hollywood actor Ben Stiller was spotted in the stands during the match between Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, as they fought for a place in the semi-finals of the 2024 French Open. The tournament has attracted celebrities worldwide besides Stiller, as Matthew McConaughey made his presence to cheer for Novak Djokovic in his fourth-round tie against Francisco Cerundolo.
Having first met in the third round of the 2021 US Open, Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas have faced off four more times. This year's French Open marked their sixth clash, where Alcaraz extended his lead against the Greek, winning 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4.
On Tuesday, during the match, the official French Open X (formerly Twitter) account posted a video of the Hollywood A-lister sitting in the lower tier of Court Philippe-Chatrier.
With Rafael Nadal out in the first round, Stan Wawrinka out in the second round, and Novak Djokovic withdrawing ahead of the quarterfinals due to injury, this will be the first time since 2005 that neither of the Big 3 - Nadal, Djokovic and Roger Federer, will feature at the French Open final.
Carlos Alcaraz to face Jannik Sinner in French Open semi-final
Following his victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz will now face Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the 2024 French Open on Friday (June 7).
The two-time Grand Slam winner has now reached his second French Open semifinal since turning professional in 2018. Before defeating Tsitsipas, Alcaraz defeated J.J. Wolf, Jasper De Jong, Sebastian Korda, and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
While speaking to Euro Sport after his match against Tsitsipas, Alcaraz complimented Sinner's game and stated that the Italian pushes him to play better every day.
“Right now he's the best player in the world or the player playing the best tennis, what can I say about him, I think we have played great matches, like you said, the quarterfinal in 2022 and after that we have played many great matches,” Carlos Alcaraz said (0:45 - 1:47)
“I'm glad to have him in the tour, to have him at this level because thanks to him I push myself to be better, to be a better player to give my 100% everyday, to wake up in the morning and want to improve my game to try to beat him, so I'm grateful to have him play, I love watching him play as well, it's going to be a really difficult challenge for me and I'm ready to take that challenge,” he added
The Italian is also having an impressive run at the French Open, exceeding his previous best performance of reaching the quarterfinals.
Sinner defeated Christopher Eubanks, Richard Gasquet, Pavel Kotov, Corentin Moutet, and World No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov before setting up the clash against Alcaraz.