Carlos Alcaraz will contest his maiden grass final at the 2023 Cinch Championships against a player he knows rather well.
Carlos Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur both reside in Spain and both have Spanish mothers. While de Minaur represents Australia and considers it his home, he spent most of his life in Spain and still lives there when he's not traveling around the world for tennis.
The duo played a fantastic match in Spain last year at the Barcelona Open where de Minaur wasted match points. Alcaraz turned things around and ended up as the champion, so the Australian will look for revenge on a surface that suits him better than Alcaraz for now.
Alcaraz produced his best effort to take down Sebastian Korda showing a really high level on a surface that isn't his best. De Minaur was no less impressive in his win over Holger Rune which makes this final a rather interesting one. Alcaraz was asked about facing De Minaur and he talked about him positively after his semi-final win.
Well, I have seen Alex for a long time. You know, I think he shared a lot of tournaments with my older brother. They played when they were younger. So I know Alex really well. Obviously, the match that we played in Barcelona was really tough. I saved match point and with a crazy passing shot.- Alcaraz on de Minaur
De Minaur has won two trophies on the grass in the past and even Alcaraz considers him the favourite before this event. He admitted it in the interview, while also honestly answering a badly phrased question that asked whether the Spaniard looks up to De Minaur. Alcaraz answered as he usually does, with a lot of respect towards his opponent.
Well, I mean, not really, you know, but obviously, I mean, he's doing great things that I'm really happy, well, I'm really happy for him with everything he has done so far, but, you know, he's young as well and he's not the guy who I look up to. But, you know, I'm really happy with everything he has done- Alcaraz when asked if he looks up to de Minaur
The final is a big one for Alcaraz. A win would be his maiden grass trophy on grass and secure him a return to number one on the rankings.
