Carlos Alcaraz has been jokingly accused of mimicking his opponent
Alexander Zverev's win celebration after defeating the latter in the quarter-finals of the
US Open.
Top seed and defending champion Alcaraz flew past twelfth seed Zverev in their quarter-final clash at the last Grand Slam of the year in New York. The Spaniard won 4/4 break points during the match while his German opponent struggled to keep up after enduring a five-set battle in his previous round against Jannik Sinner.
In the end, the victory was a straightforward one, with Alcaraz winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to book his place in the semi-finals, where he will face third seed Daniil Medvedev. However, the 20-year-old left many fans talking about his choice of celebration at the end of the match.
Alcaraz celebrates with popular move
After his win, Alcaraz celebrated by lifting his arms in the air for a few seconds as he walked around the court, before clenching his fists as he lowered his arms and let out a victorious cry.
While this dramatic move entertained the crowd, some fans noticed that it was very similar to Zverev's celebration after beating Sinner in the Round of 16.
"Didn't zverev do this exact celebration after beating Sinner? Carlos took it personally," one fan joked on X, formerly known as Twitter, before adding, "I'm not even kidding, btw. It's EXACTLY the same celebration. Frame to frame."
Move popular with other sports stars
However, the fan was quick to stress that they were not actually accusing Alcaraz of throwing shade at Zverev, as the move was a popular one often associated with sports stars such as Real Madrid footballer Jude Bellingham.
"No, he wasn't throwing shade," they wrote, "This is Charlie's typical celebration, and also Jude Bellingham's, he even gave a shoutout to him on his IG [Instagram] stories, but it's so funny how similar it was."