Alexander Zverev blasted for spurning 'a gift from God' in agonising Australian Open defeat to Carlos Alcaraz

But Alcaraz still came out on top, with the Spaniard booking his place in Sunday's seismic final with a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (3-7) 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 victory at the Rod Laver Arena.

When Alcaraz was receiving medical treatment in the third set, Zverev was visibly angry.

The tennis star was caught on camera moaning to the officials with the 28-year-old seemingly believing that Alcaraz was merely struggling with cramp and nothing more.

After the match, Zverev was visibly unhappy with the No 3 seed cutting a dejected figure as he trudged away.

And Murray thinks he should have done more to take advantage of Alcaraz's injury issue, suggesting he failed to capitalise on 'a gift from God'.

ABSOLUTE CINEMA 🎬

Alcaraz moves into his first AO final after a five set epic lasting 5 hours 27 minutes against Zverev! @wwos • @espn • @tntsports • @wowowtennis • #AO26 pic.twitter.com/zdBB3yHcxt

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 30, 2026

Speaking on TNT Sports, the Briton said: "I don’t think Zverev dealt with the situation particularly well.

"How he went about exploiting Alcaraz's deficiencies in that moment was very defensively minded.

"He didn’t put his foot on the gas and really take it from him. He was given a gift from God and didn’t make the most of it."

Laura Robson and Tim Henman also addressed Zverev's complaints during the fixture in Melbourne.

Robson said: "Zverev was complaining because you can’t technically have a medical timeout for cramp.

"You can have the trainer on during a changeover but you are not allowed to take a full medical timeout for that issue.

"It’s very hard for the physio in the moment to say: ‘No I can’t give you that treatment,’ because as a player you might think it’s cramp, but you also might think you’ve pulled a muscle."

And Henman has expressed a belief that Alcaraz had a genuine problem, rather than merely a minor one.

He said: "It was about two-and-a-half hours into the match in a Grand Slam semi-final.

"If that’s a best of three sets match in a Masters 1000 there’s no way Alcaraz is cramping. In my mind, it has to have been stress related.

"The irony is he then did so well not to get stressed after that, to stay calm and relaxed and wait for his body to recover.

"Once he called to the umpire and needs the trainer, he’s not going to say: ‘I’m cramping in my leg.’

"I’m sure he’d say he had a twinge and can it be worked on."

Alcaraz will now go up against either Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final.

Sinner starts the match as the favourite, having won the last two titles Down Under.

But Djokovic, with 24 Grand Slams under his belt, can't be entirely ruled out despite the Serb approaching the twilight years of his career.