After a magical week of improbable comebacks, reality set in for Jack Draper when he retired due to injury after losing the first two sets of his fourth-round match against Carlos Alcaraz.
Draper had taken his once-frail body to new extremes with three straight five-set matches, each time coming back from two sets to one down.
But after 12 hours and 34 minutes came the physical reckoning and the 23-year-old was in no position to test Alcaraz's power.
“It's not the way I wanted to go through,” said the 21-year-old third seed, who is chasing his career Grand Slam here this fortnight. “I'm sad for Jack, he's a good person and he doesn't deserve to be injured. He couldn't prepare well for the season, we had to train together for a week (in Alicante).
“I'm sure he will come back strong, as always.”
The first set was close, but that had more to do with Alcaraz's waywardness than anything coming from Draper's racquet.
Playing Alcaraz seems like a peculiar experience. He'll make plenty of unforced errors, but he can also conjure up winners from the most unlikely positions. He can make his opponent look like a spectator, Alcaraz's free jazz chorus, and Draper never felt like he had much agency in the match.
Alcaraz danced well inside the baseline to attack Draper's second serve and generally tried to keep points as short as possible, which one imagines suited Draper given his weakened state. After just two games, his left leg was shaking.
As he has done to some extent all week, Draper was struggling to time his forehand when he really tried to increase the power. He hit a couple so dramatically that they flew miles into the stands.
A messy set with break points both ways reached 5-3 with Alcaraz serving for the set. But she committed a pair of double faults and hit a forehand into the net while serving, giving Draper a break point. Alcaraz then put a tame cut into the top of the net to grant a completely unnecessary break.
Could Draper steal this set? Alcaraz's messy play gave him a chance but, serving to stay in the set at 5-6, Draper again tried to hit a big forehand and again missed wide. That gave Alcaraz two set points at 15-40 and in the second he unleashed a forehand that beat Draper at the net.
After the first set, Draper came off the court to call a medical timeout. He had been shaking his left leg and then seemed to point at his hip, which bothered him during the preseason, but after three five sets in a row it was inevitable that his body would groan.
Alcaraz has lost only once in 55 Grand Slam matches in which he won the first set, so Draper's chances were effectively nil.
Draper was moving pretty hard now and several times he didn't even try to regain his position after being dragged out, just watching Alcaraz throw the ball into the open court.
The contrast with the man on the other side of the net was profound; Draper hit a nice tight dropshot and Alcaraz located it and hit a delightful backhand crosscourt winner.
For the first time the finger came out waving, celebrating another clip from Alcaraz's highlight reel. There were no more celebrations after that; it would have been rude considering how quickly Draper's physical condition was deteriorating.
Surprisingly, Draper headed to his chair at the end of the second set: Alcaraz was half waiting at the net for the expected resignation. But after thinking about it for a few seconds, maybe a sign from his coaches? – Draper did indeed fall on his sword.