As the racket world continues to observe the impressive performance of Carlos Alcaraz in ‘Cathedral’ of tennisthe Murcian will return to action this Friday and air his status as reigning champion at Wimbledon.
The 20-year-old from Murcia and world number 1, barely had three days of rest and disconnection from his family and friends in his hometown, Palmarbut in Nice (France) The Hopman Cupa mixed team competition that reappears this year after a four-year absence.
The Hopman Cup was held between 1989 and 2019 in Perthon a hard court, as a favorable tournament to be prepared between December and January for the former grand slam of the year, the australia tomorrow. The creation of ATP Cup this competition was moved from the calendar now returning to the clay in Nice.
Alcaraz makes up the Spanish team with Rebecca Masarova23 years old and 72nd in the ranking, replacing the injured Paula Badosa. Spain will face Belgium (Friday and Croatia (Saturday) and the first in the group will play in the final on Sunday against the best of the other group, consisting of Denmark, France and Switzerland.
Masarova will open this Friday (4:00 pm/Tdp) match against the Belgians against elise mertens (30th) and then the turn of Alcaraz-David Goffin, around 5:30 pm, which will be broadcast on La 1, according to RTVE. The double is the third point of contention. Depending on the match, the Hopman Cup can be seen on La 1, La 2, Teledeporte or RTVE Play.
Goffin, 32, former world No. 7 and now ranked 111th, defeated Carlos in one of their two ATP clashes, last year in Astana (7-5, 6-3). The Murcian defeated the Belgian by a double 6-3 in their first meeting, in Melbourne’2021.
Saturday’s match against Croatia also starts at 4:00 pm (Tdp) with the women’s match between Masarova and Donna Vekic (22nd). Alcaraz will be measured later (La 1) in Borna Coric (15th), whom he defeated in the semifinals of Masters 1,000 in the land of Madrid by 6-4 and 6-3, their confrontation so far.
Alcaraz arrives in Nice leading the main statistics of the 2023 ATP circuit: he is the world number 1 and leads in titles (6) and victories (47). On land, the Hopman Cup surface, adds three titles this year (Buenos Aires, Barcelona, Madrid)25 wins and three losses, against Cameron Norrie in the Rio final, Fabian Marozsan in the 3rd round of Rome and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Roland Garros. His other KO of the season came on hard courts, vs Jannik Sinnerin the semifinals of Miami.
The Murcian hasn’t exactly lost since the Roland Garros semifinals, when Djokovic’s demands, pressure and cramps left him without a title in Paris. Then the tour of the grass began and, after an extraordinary adaptation to the new surface, he lifted the trophies of to Queen and Wimbledon, this after a massive revenge against the Serbian tennis player, whose record of Grand Slam titles remains at 23.
Source: La Verdad
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