Carlos Alcaraz sent a classy message after beating an ailing Alexander Zverev in straight sets to reach the Cincinnati Open final.
Alcaraz triumphed 6-4, 6-3 over Zverev, with the German forced to take a medical timeout in the second set.
His opponent, who has type-1 diabetes, was clearly struggling at the end of the match.
Writing on the camera after the match, Alcaraz wrote: “Happy for the final but feeling bad for Sascha. Wish you all the best.”
The 22-year-old explained further in his interview after the match.
He said: “It’s never easy playing against someone that you know is not feeling 100 per cent. It’s even tougher when it comes from Sascha, such a great player, such a great person off the court.
“We have a really good relationship. It was difficult. I think we started the match playing good tennis, but then all of a sudden he started to feel bad and and my focus was thinking about how he was feeling instead focusing on myself and playing good tennis.”
“We started the match really good, playing good rallies, a good level of tennis.
“But then all of a sudden he started to feel bad. And then my focus, I was thinking about how he’s feeling, besides focusing on myself and playing good tennis.
“It was a really difficult situation for me and I just wish him all the best.”
That victory was the 25th career win over a top five player in just his 37th match – with only Roger Federer reaching that milestone faster in 36 games.
He is also the youngest player (22 years 94 days) to reach three consecutive Masters 1000 finals since Novak Djokovic in 2009 (21 years 341 days).
After that quick end to the second set, Alcaraz headed straight to the practice court less than an hour after the match ended.
He was seen hitting serves in preparation for the Cincinnati Open final.
Alcaraz will face Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s showpiece event – the fourth straight tournament where they’ve met in the final.
Sinner celebrated his 24th birthday by halting French wildcard Terence Atmane’s surprise run to the last four in a 7-6 (4) 6-2 win.
World number 136 Atmane – who had never been inside the top 100 but will now climb to 69 – went toe-to-toe with Sinner in a tight opening set, but the defending champion found an extra gear in the tie-break and cruised to victory in the second.
It was Sinner’s 26th successive hard-court win and his 12th in a row on all surfaces.
World number one Sinner and second-ranked Alcaraz will meet in a repeat of the French Open and Wimbledon finals earlier this summer.