From the first title of the Murcian in Umag, where another edition of the Hungarian tournament will be played this Wednesday, to the ‘top 5’ in the world
It was easy to see a year ago that Carlos Alcaraz would make a significant leap. On these dates, he won his first title and delivered the first blow of a progression he had cared for bit by bit, with alternations between the Challenger circuit and the ATP and with a third round at Roland Garros that caught the attention of the whole tennis world..
But at the end of July, in Umag (Croatia), in one of those few clay-court tournaments to be held after Wimbledon, Alcaraz took the final step. He won his first ATP title in the final against Richard Gasquet (6-2, 6-2), at the age of 18 years, 2 months and 14 days.
Earlier than Pete Sampras, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic (age 19) and Roger Federer (age 20). He nearly caught up with Rafael Nadal, who at age 18, two months and the ATP’s headline for winning that first title in 2004 reads Rafael Nadel, not Rafael Nadal, a mistake that would not be repeated in the 91 titles. that followed.
That title in Umag, which puts him among 49 Spaniards to have won at least one trophy, was followed by the quarter-finals at the US Open, his stellar presentation to the public. In the best possible scenario, with the New York crowd in the stands, Alcaraz began to give off the scent of a champion who has accompanied him on all the circuits in the world and made him a fan favorite.
The first victory against a ‘top 5’, against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open, first semifinals in an ATP 500 in Vienna, victory in the Next Gen Finals and before the end of the year among the best 50 in the world. All for a tennis player who was out of the top 500 on the track less than two years earlier.
2022 was the unexpected springboard. A leap of many miles for a boy who wouldn’t turn 19 until May. The first impulse came in Rio de Janeiro, with five wins giving him his first ATP 500, the earliest since Nadal, who bagged the first in Acapulco 2005. And it was followed by the Masters 1,000 in Miami, where Alcaraz was crowned the sixth in history to win a tournament of this category, just ten days after the hunt for Nadal and his 2005 Monte Carlo.
Alcaraz’s first year in the elite was marked by precocity, as the titles in Barcelona and Madrid later confirmed, but also by caution, as evidenced by the defeat at Roland Garros against one of his rivals in the next few years, Alexander Zverev, and at Wimbledon against Jannik Sinner.
Even the Hamburg fuss is also a wake-up call, as he fell for a tennis player the same age as Lorenzo Musetti, who is 20 years old, and who broke his idyll with the final. Until last Sunday, Alcaraz had won the five ATP finals he had played in, in addition to adding the Next Gen Finals there.
The final on German soil, yes, means he will be in the top five of the rankings for the first time in his career, at 19 years, two months and 20 days, the eighth earliest in history. He is only surpassed by Sampras, Nadal, Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and Michael Chang. In the back are Djokovic (19 years, 11 months and eight days) and Federer (21 years, 5 months and 19 days).
With a final or title in Umag, Alcaraz climbs to fourth place, so he could be the sixth youngest to do so. The big goal is to be the youngest number one in history, a feat that is within reach as he has a year and a half to surpass Lleyton Hewitt, who reached it at 20 years, 8 months and 23 days. Of course he is now almost 3,000 points from the top of the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
A year ago he entered Umag as number 73 in the world and now he does so as the main favorite to lift the title. He is the leader and will make his debut next Wednesday against the winner of the game between Jiri Vesely and Federico Delbonis. A possible duel against Sinner, his executioner at Wimbledon, appears on the horizon of the final. Umag no longer offers the attractions of a year ago, but it retains a sentimental point in Alcaraz’s career, which is why he flew directly from Hamburg so as not to miss the appointment in Croatia.
Source: La Verdad
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