Carlos Alcaraz got an easy draw in the first round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and he proved exactly why everybody considers him the top favorite to win the event with this match.
Before coming back to Paris, the Spaniard spent some time at home to recharge his batteries after a hectic summer. He won the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, which was an incredible run.
He finished off in style with a win over Wimbledon legend Novak Djokovic. An even more impressive run earlier this year at Roland Garros yielded another trophy, so he was largely considered the favorite to win the gold medal on the very same courts.
He has simply been playing on a really high level in the past two months, and nobody really comes close. The draw was fair to him as he faced Hady Habib, who entered the tournament as an alternate thanks to playing in the doubles competition.
It didn't take long for tennis fans to notice that we were watching a match between two players who were not in the same league tennis-wise. Alcaraz didn't even have a slow start, he just overwhelmed his opponent from the start.
An early break was certainly the ideal way to do that. Alcaraz had a measured choice of his spots, which worked well because Habib tried to be quite aggressive. It was a bold strategy that made sense because he had to try anything.
If he had sat back and allowed his opponent to dominate the rallies, he wouldn't have gotten far, so Habib went for it, but he missed a lot at the start. Alcaraz also served well, which has been happening a lot lately, and it's greatly impacted his results.
If he can keep that up, it will certainly be a major weapon in the coming days. Alcaraz also had a no-nonsense approach because he has double duty today. He will play the doubles with Rafael Nadal, so not complicating this match too much was the obvious idea.
Alcaraz won the opening set 6-3, which was likely a result he was happy to see. His opponent stabilized slightly, and he didn't push too much, either. Getting the job done is what matters most, and he was able to do that in the opening set.
The 21-year-old opened the second with an early break, as it seemed he could any time he wanted to break. When he needed a bit of separation, Alcaraz just pushed the pedal to the medal.
Despite largely overwhelming his opponent, Alcaraz didn't entirely dominate him. He paced himself a little bit in this one, probably because of the doubles duty later in the day with Nadal.
Still, as opposed to the opening set, Alcaraz got a second break in the second set, taking a 4-1 lead, which then became a 5-1 lead. Alcaraz overhit a bit in certain moments, but not as much as his opponent, who barely hit any winners.
In the end, the final score was 6-3, 6-1 for the Spaniard, who debuted at the Olympic games with this win—his first but certainly not the last.
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