When the French Open reaches its semi-final stage at Roland Garros, 391 days will have passed since Carlos Alcaraz faced Novak Djokovic for the first time and gave tennis the shot in the arm it has longed for ever since. As moments of sporting symbolism go, Alcaraz defeating Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on consecutive days on the Madrid clay, aged 18, was as clear as they come, and foreshadowed what happened next: the Spaniard winning his first grand slam at the US Open and finishing the year as the youngest world No 1 in history.
But as everything happened so quickly and Alcaraz’s star rose at an astonishing rate, something else has taken longer to materialise: the rematch.
