The 3rd of September 2021 is a very significant date in Carlos Alcaraz's career because that day he showed that none of what happened this year was an illusion.
Initially, it was going to be the bad boy of tennis, Nick Kyrgios. Then a certain Alexander Zverev appeared, another tall fellow named Karen Khachanov, and some players named Borna Coric, Frances Tiafoe, Andrey Rublev, and Daniil Medvedev. Remember Chung Hyeon? What a shame looking back now.
Some were enchanted by Denis Shapovalov's sudden rise and Stefanos Tsitsipas's maturing. We don't even remember all of those names properly. Then we had Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Jannik Sinner. Lorenzo Musetti got some hype recently as well, but, but, but.
Let’s be honest. None of these players lived up to the initial hype they received. Due to that, any new hot name in tennis is greeted with a healthy dose of skepticism. Four of those named above are Top 10 players, and two are actually the top two at the moment, but only one of them ever won a Grand Slam, and it only happened last year.
And then HE showed up. Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, a player born on the 5th of May 2003. A player who is not like these above. A million-dollar kid.
A player who got his first professional win at the age of 14 when he beat Federico Gaio at a Futures event in Murcia. At 15, he scored his first win over a player ranked inside the Top 200.
At 16, he won his first match on the ATP Tour. At 17, he already won three ATP Challenger events, becoming the youngest player to do so since Richard Gasquet in 2003.
We all know what he did this year, but let’s take a trip down memory lane to last year’s US Open. Carlos Alcaraz made Andy Murray a very happy man by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in a fantastic five-set thriller.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov sat down with Serbian tennis journalist Sasa Ozmo to talk about that match, and he openly said that he believes Alcaraz will win over ten grand slams easily while admitting he will be number one by the end of this year. Bold at the time, and now?
"I never saw anybody hit the ball that hard."
When we look at all the young and exceptionally talented players certain things overlap in most. There are some obvious deficiencies in their tennis; their mental game is not as strong, and that’s fairly common and expected.
Most young players don’t do well in situations where things are not going their way and when they need to problem-solve on the spot. Take Medvedev and Rublev, for example. They are players who often lose control of their emotions early on, start to complain, and lose focus completely. It’s to be expected, but Alcaraz is different.
"I never saw Rafa do bad things on the court or complain. Those are things that impact your play and that's I try to be like him."
Spanish players are somewhat famous for their emotional discipline and willingness to fight until the last point. Alcaraz is a bit different. He has similar characteristics, but his main influence has always been Nadal, and it’s clear to anyone who watched him.
It’s not his play style it’s the approach, the die-hard approach to tennis that resembles Rafa eerily much. He never gives up in a match and that’s why he turned around a 2-5 deficit against Tsitsipas at the US Open last year.
That's why he beat Peter Gojowczyk in the next round despite playing worse than him, and that’s how he survived a brutal clash with Albert Ramos this year at Roland Garros.
"I’ve learned a lot of things in the last couple of events. Those were my biggest matches on the tour, against the biggest players. The most important part is that I learned how to handle the pressure in the critical moments, how to control my emotions and how to play in those moments."
His maturity was incredible in the match against Djokovic in Madrid. He showed more maturity and calmness in some moments than Novak, arguably the player with the strongest mental game in the history of tennis—not this Era, not this decade, the history of tennis.
It took Alcaraz six professional ATP events to figure out what some players take years. Some might argue it’s just youthful bravery; he doesn’t know any better, but I tend to disagree.
I think he’s fully aware of the situation. Look at that US Open clash with Tsitsipas again. The fifth set was a whirlwind of emotions, but he played as if he had faced those situations 100 times before.
"A lot of players get tight in big points. They don’t want to make a mistake, they wait for the opponent to make it. I like to take the point, I think it’s the right way - at least, the point finishes on my terms and I think your opponent might get scared when he sees you putting pressure on him. Juan Carlos tells me every day, to be aggressive."
Ferrero has been overlooking Alcaraz since he was 14 years old, and he certainly knows a thing or two about taking the point. Young players always tend to struggle with the physicality of the game. Let’s take Lorenzo Musetti, for example.
While he strolls around the court graciously like it’s a Versace show, he retired against Djokovic in the final set ‘because he could not win a point'. In reality, he could not withstand Djokovic's intensity once the match got into the third and fourth hours.
One year later, he was in a similar situation against Tsitsipas, and again couldn't cope. That’s a year later, with no major improvement from a player older than Alcaraz. See the difference? His famous first win in Rio de Janeiro over Albert Ramos showed his hardcore nature early.
It lasted three hours and 36 minutes and finished at 3 a.m. The one against Tsitsipas lasted well over four hours. In Barcelona recently, he played two matches in a day and won both of them easily.
Whatever typical flaws young players have, he doesn’t have them. He clearly has holes in his game. The service could be better despite a vast array of variations, but even now, he’s a fairly complete player.
Variation comes naturally to him generally. In recent memory, there has not been a player who demonstrated a better feel for the drop shot than Alcaraz. Some of them simply defy the laws of physics, and those are some pretty tough laws to defy. After all, what Tsitsipas said holds true.
The average forehand speed at last year’s US Open was 125 km/h, which is 5 km/h faster than the average. His backhand is 121 km/h, which is 8 kilometers per hour faster than the average.
Keep in mind he barely misses them when he’s properly set. That’s insane for such a young player. And he’s even better this year. One more time, for good measure, that’s literally insane. Carlitos balances all of his weapons well. He doesn’t rush, and most of the time, he has a clear plan of what to do.
He can get wild at times, but when he does, he quickly corrects himself and adjusts his technique. Against Ramos, he switched tactics a couple of times perfectly, choosing spots to play aggressive tennis or be more conservative.
Finally, there is another thing that makes him so special: the joy with which he plays. It’s a joy fairly similar to that of Rafael Nadal. When you see Nadal with a broken foot, under pain medications, limping around on the court, with dozens of hours on the court, get excited like a little kid after some spectacular rally, you can’t help but be drawn to that.
Alcaraz experiences the same joy when he plays tennis. His presence and energy are unmatched by any player on the Tour. The last years of tennis fans have been spent obsessing over all those youngsters named above.
We wondered who would be the one, who might be special, and then came Carlos Alcaraz. It’s not an illusion this time around.
He is truly special.