Carlos Alcaraz is having a solid year as he reached three Grand Slam semi-finals this year, as the youngest player since 2007.
The first Grand Slam of the year was the Australian Open, an event Alcaraz didn't play because of the injury he picked up late last year. The same injury didn't allow him to play at the ATP Finals last year despite being the year-end No. 1.
Had he played in Australia, he might have also made the semi-final there, considering how well he played so far. The second Grand Slam of the year was the French Open, and he crashed in the semi-final. It was the cramped game, a match he'll remember for a long time because he was just about to turn it around when his body betrayed him.
Wimbledon might be his favourite memory of this year as he produced an incredible effort to take down Novak Djokovic in the final and win the trophy. By winning, he obviously made it past the semi-final, clearing the milestone there as well.
And we now come to the US Open. He's in the semi-final, where he'll play Daniil Medvedev, so he cleared the milestone here as well. By doing all of that, he's become the youngest player to do so since Novak Djokovic in 2007.
16 years later, Djokovic is the last player to have beaten Alcaraz in a tennis match, and they might play in the final here. It's the final that everybody wants to see, and we're pretty close to getting it. Think about Djokovic for a moment.
He played in 3 Grand Slam semi-finals 16 years ago in 2007 and now in 2023 the Serbian bettered that. He won Australia, he won Roland Garros, he played in the Wimbledon final and is now one match away from the final in New York.