Tennis yearns for Carlos Alcaraz

It had been a long time, the professionals repeat, that the world of tennis had not witnessed such a dazzling and dazzling irruption as that of Carlos Alcaraz, the

who is not breaking, but rather bursting all the predictions about his projection.

The 18-year-old from Murcia, who qualified for the first time in the semifinals of a Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, is turning his sport upside down and growing exponentially with a seductive, neat and abrasive game at the same time.

His refined technical proposal is accompanied by a brutal strike and the rivals are impressed by the emergence of a boy who brings it all together: “He has the passion and is humble enough to work hard.

He has the talent and the physical component is great.

In a lot of things, he reminds me of when he was 17 or 18 years old.”

The description corresponds to Rafael Nadal, who today (around 11:00 p.m., Movistar) will serve as a scale to know where exactly Alcaraz is right now.

His course in the Californian desert places him among the 15 best on the circuit, but his tennis and his progression place him in a higher stratum.

The Mallorcan (7-6(0), 5-7 and 6-4 to Nick Kyrgios) adds and continues this year, from victory to victory;

there are 19 so far.

But the sequence of his natural heir is not bad either, already converted into the second best Spanish racket – beating Roberto Bautista and Pablo Carreño – and who has won 12 of the 13 games he has played this season, with the Rio de Janeiro title. Janeiro included and an evolution that has exceeded all expectations.

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“I see him among the top 10 in a three-year margin,” Alexander Zverev said in October, in a forecast that points to falling very short.

"I said it before.

And I will say it again: Alcaraz is the next great player”, broadcast Patrick McEnroe, commentator for American television, after the Murcian dispatched the defending champion in Indian Wells in the quarterfinals, again in exhibition format.

“He has a great serve and he moves very well, his forehand and his backhand are very dangerous.

It is very good to see him giving the maximum with all the talent that he has, ”explained Cameron Norrie after losing 6-4 and 6-3;

"He is more comfortable than me in these big games."

A feeling shared by Gael Monfils, a 35-year-old veteran who is almost twice his age and who could do little in the previous round.

“He is too strong.

He has his whole life ahead of him to do exceptional things, and I think he will do them”, the Frenchman added.

And it affects the praise Paula Badosa: “When you are so, so good, it is difficult to maintain that humility that he has.

We get along very well, we often talk, but I must not give you any advice.

When I was his age, I did the opposite, so maybe I'm the one who has to learn from him.

He is going to be amazing.”

The Youngest Since Agassi (1988)

With the first quarter of the year still to come, Alcaraz has already reached the goal that he and his team set during the preseason, in terms of promotion.

He is the sixth best player of this 2022 – which would grant him access to the Masters Cup – and continues to dazzle and collect praise wherever he steps.

"His arrival is great for tennis," Novak Djokovic conceded at the end of last year.

"I have never seen anyone hit the ball with such force," stressed the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas after losing to him at the last edition of the US Open.

"I think the same, I don't remember someone who hit the ball so hard," shares coach Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of Serena Williams and dedicated to training on the Côte d'Azur.

Alcaraz dries himself with a towel during a break. CLIVE BRUNSKILL (AFP)

There is, however, no one who knows him better than Pablo Carreño, with whom he lives and trains daily at the Juan Carlos Ferrero academy in Villena (Alicante).

"When he is on the track he does not look like a child, he is much more mature than kids his age", he specifies in a statement collected by the ATP.

In parallel, the world of tennis does not take its eyes off him and he gapes at the takeoff of a boy who assumes the waterfall of praise naturally.

“I have to be happy, but I can improve.

Every day that passes I can do better”, indicates Alcaraz, unanimously identified as the next great figure of the racket.

Suddenly, the Spaniard has entered the group of youngest semifinalists in a Masters 1000. He joins tennis players of the stature of Nadal (18 years and 9 months in Miami 2005) or Michael Chang (18 and 5 in Canada 1990), and the most recent predecessor, the Canadian Felix-Augger Aliassime (18 and 8 in Miami 2019).

History also reflects that he is the youngest semifinalist in Indian Wells since he broke into the penultimate round of the Andre Agassi tournament, at the age of 17 in the 1988 edition. The American could not beat the German Boris Becker, later champion at beat Emilio Sánchez Vicario.

Rest and some golf

At the gates of the second pulse against Nadal, the young man from Palmar (23,000 inhabitants) says that he will do a light training (45 minutes), rest and distract himself by playing a little golf with Ferrero to disconnect and purify his mind.

The first time they faced each other, the one from Manacor endorsed him 6-1 and 6-2 on the land of the Caja Mágica in Madrid.

It was May 5, the day the Murcian came of age.

“Rafa destroyed me”, he is sincere.

“But I think now she's going to be different.

I'm more mature”, said the Murcian, who has grown up admiring the Mallorcan's successes.

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Carlos Alcaraz goes for Indian Wells

“Rafa is my idol since I was little.

I think he will be a fantastic game, very tough.

An experience.

I will enjoy every second.

It is very nice that he compares me with him, but at my age Rafa had already won a big one [the 2005 Roland Garros]”, he transmits while advising him of the statistics: of the 158 games he has played against Spanish players, Nadal has only lost 21. The last one who managed to beat him was Fernando Verdasco, in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open. In five sets.

"I don't know what I have to do to beat him.

I have played at a high level in this tournament, but we all know what Rafa is like.

He has a thousand lives in a match and he can switch games if he needs to.

We'll see what happens”, ditch Alcaraz.

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