Alcaraz, a ray towards the eighths

It is not a day for fancy dress because the cold London wind is blowing hard.

Even so, the Court 1 fan rubs his hands together and salivates because every time Carlos Alcaraz starts, sprints, makes support and charges his forehand or backhand to hit the ball (punish it in his case), there is an instant very pleasant in the period between the beginning of the maneuver of the Murcian and the moment in which the ball begins to spit out of his strings: What will he do this time?

Where will he go?

What will the boy invent, who at 19 years old can already boast of having reached the round of 16 on all three surfaces (grass, clay, cement) before Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and also the prestigious Andy Murray?

Given this situation, Oscar Otte, a German who initially came strong for having reached the semifinals in Stuttgart and Halle in the preparatory phase, does not see them coming.

Every time the Spaniard finds a fairly frank position, he gets a shake.

He doesn't know where to go, whether to start for the drop shot or not, or whether to move from one side to the other.

The unpredictable tennis of his rival leaves him nailed several times and what appeared as a theoretically compromised cross, or at least delicate, is reduced to another afternoon of filming, spectacle and evolution: 6-3, 6-1 and 6-2, in 1h 38m.

Level up Alcaraz.

Little by little he begins to get the hang of this green thing and enjoy it, and understand that good movement mechanics are worth as much or more than the whiplash on the grass.

After saving a tough debut against Jan-Lennard Struff and taking a leap forward against Tallon Griekspoor on Wednesday, the Murcian continues to strengthen the growth spurt and get the point of the requirements of a surface that requires a completely different language.

From the outset he signs a

blank

Otte hesitates again and again, and suffers.

The Spaniard sews it lazily and if not, he overflows it down one or another corridor.

The records speak for themselves: he only makes eight errors, draws 37 winners and only gives up five points (35/40) with the first serve;

he sculpted the victory with six breaks and the German, 36th in the world, did not have even the crumbs left.

"It's very fun to see you," the interviewer tells him at the foot of the track.

“Wimbledon gives you a special energy.

I am trying to improve every day and I think that in the fourth round he will be another player”, anticipates him, champion this season in Rio, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid.

The woman reminds him that he is the youngest to disembark on that scale since the Australian Bernard Tomic did it in 2011, at the age of 18, and the Spanish, noblote, smiles and shows his teeth before heading to the locker room and starting to think about tomorrow's duel against Yannik Sinner, another young value (20 years old, 13 in the world) who will participate in the dance of successes in the short term;

yes, now trying to get back on track after a few complicated months.

“We are friends off the track.

He is very aggressive and we all know the level he has ”, remarks Alcaraz (19 years and 1 month), who again leaves another notch of precocity and advances

Nadal (20 years), Federer (20) in the multi-

of 16 , Murray (22) and, by a hair, also Djokovic (19 and 7 months).

“I think we are going to have a great rivalry here.

This is the best game I've ever played on grass.

It will be fun and complicated.

I want to enjoy myself and I hope that you [he addresses the fans] do too”, he says goodbye.

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