Carlos Alcaraz says 'sport should be like this' after sportsmanship moment with Ben Shelton

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What’s the most famous finger wag in the history of Court Phillippe-Chatrier?

Before yesterday, I would have put my money on the triumphantly cheeky one that Roger Federer pulled out after ending Novak Djokovic’s 43-match win streak in that stadium in 2011.

Now, Federer’s may have some competition. On Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz made headlines with his own Chatrier finger wag. It wasn’t so much the motion that made it notable; the wag itself wasn’t as dramatic or aggressive as Federer’s. It was who he was aiming it at, and why.

Alcaraz was telling the chair umpire, who was about to award him a point, that it should go to his opponent, Ben Shelton, instead. More than that, he was nullifying what looked like one of the most spectacular shots in a young career that has already been filled with them.

Read More: Carlos Alcaraz ‘couldn’t quite hear’ Ben Shelton at the net during Roland Garros exchange—but ‘it sounded nice!’

He had reached out, with his back to the net, and stabbed at a backhand volley. His racquet flew out of his hands—as the ball popped up, crossed the net, and landed on the other side for a gobsmacking winner.

But when the umpire tried to reward Alcaraz for it, he told him that, no, his racquet had made contact with the ball when it was out of his hand, which is illegal.

Read more: Carlos Alcaraz battles past Ben Shelton at Roland Garros for 100th clay-court win of career

It’s not a rule that everyone, or even every pro, knows. “What?” Shelton could be seen saying at the other baseline, as he wondered what had just happened, and how he had ended up winning the point. Alcaraz, meanwhile, walked back to his own baseline with a half smile on his face. He had just put himself down break point, at a time when the match was still very much up for grabs. But he seemed to be enjoying the moment almost as much as if he had ripped off a forehand winner.

“I have to say, I thought, ‘OK, I could not say anything,’ but I would have felt guilty if I didn't say anything about it,” Alcaraz said later. “It’s just about if I know that I didn’t or I did a wrong thing, wrong shots or an illegal shot, I have to say.

“I have to be honest with myself. I have to be honest with Ben, with everyone.”

As Alcaraz hints, there was a utilitarian reason for him to cede the point. If you’ve ever played a sport and gotten away with something you shouldn’t, you know it can nag at you and possibly rob you of some competitive motivation.

But that’s not the most important reason he did it, or why it should matter to us. In ceding the point, Alcaraz was taking tennis back to an earlier form of tennis sportsmanship, and pointing the way toward a new one.

I have to say, I thought, ‘OK, I could not say anything,’ but I would have felt guilty if I didn't say anything about it. Carlos Alcaraz

Once upon a time, during the sport’s prelapsarian amateur days, players were generally expected to make calls on themselves—such as if they touched the net with their racquet—and not wait for a referee to weigh in. It was a code that, sportsmanship-wise, raised tennis above many team sports, where the athletes were expected to get away with whatever they could. In the Open Era, as money flowed into the game and professional referees became necessary, tennis became more like those other sports. The player’s job was to play, the ump’s job was to make the calls.

Alcaraz, in an echo of the honor-code era, didn’t do that on Sunday. But as much as the moment may have stunned Shelton, the Spaniard’s concession shouldn’t have been a surprise. His countryman and predecessor, Rafael Nadal, was known to give back points when a mark showed that a bad call had been made in his favor. From the start of his career, Carlitos has taken that sporting attitude a step farther, and it goes beyond just reversing calls.

Alcaraz’s approach to tennis has never had a hint of gamesmanship. His celebrations of good shots aren’t meant to intimidate. He has a smile, and a show of respect, for every opponent. Where most players recede into an uncommunicative shell as they get ready to compete, Alcaraz seems happy to smile, chat or at least acknowledge his opponent as a fellow human being and colleague. He and Jannik Sinner will greet each other with a friendly hand slap as they get ready to go to battle. In Cincinnati a couple of years ago, a match between Alcaraz and Tommy Paul was repeatedly delayed by rain; each time the Spaniard and American walked on and off the court, they could be seen laughing and talking to each other all the way up and down the tunnel.

It’s not hard to be smiley and magnanimous when you’re winning, which Alcaraz usually is. But his demeanor doesn’t change a whole lot in defeat, either. After a loss, even a tough one at a major, he offers his conqueror a forthright congratulations, and usually walks off disappointed but not destroyed or in a rage. There’s always a sense with Alcaraz that he knows he’ll live to fight another day, and that a defeat isn’t a sign of worse things to come, or something to worry about for long.

Coming from a top-ranked player, this can and hopefully will be a contagious attitude; it’s hard to think of a healthier one. It’s also one that’s shared by the current WTA No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka. Yes, she’s prone to slamming, or decimating, a racquet or two, but she also seems to understand that one loss, no matter how tough to take, is just that, one loss. That has surely been a key to her resilience over the last three or four years.

“I think that sport should be like this, just to be fair with the opponent, with yourself,” Alcaraz said.

“You can’t win them all” is a phrase we tell ourselves, but it’s also something that’s hard to remember in the moment of defeat. Alcaraz seems to be able to live that slogan. It’s part of what make him a success. It’s also what gives him the strength to wag his finger at a chair umpire on one of the biggest stages in tennis—and give the point to your opponent.