Carlos Alcaraz returns to the grass just as he left, as if he had stayed to live in it, levitating over the green. Adaptation? That’s how it is. Snapshot. Nobody would say that a little over a week ago he was playing and triumphing in Paris, on the clay of Chatrier, or that a few days ago he was on a getaway in Ibiza, dancing on the court with friends to recharge his batteries on the island, which always looks good. “We had fun, I disconnected. As a player, I need this kind of stuff. To achieve my best tennis, I have to separate the personal from the professional,” he says. So, now airy and well clear, ready again, it shines in this reappearance at Queen’s, territory conquered a year ago. On the other side, the long face and the permanently negative gesture of Francisco Cerúndolo, who falls hard despite the short-lived revolt at the end. He doesn’t quite believe it, it’s of no use. And Carlitos is very good, of course: 6-1 and 7-5, in 1h 21m
Barely 10 days after conquering Roland Garros, the Murcian reappears doing everything that every tennis player who aspires to moderately master a register as complex as that of the grass is supposed to do: hitting the ball with determination, fluttering here and there, cutting the ball, leaning over the net to intimidate. And he does it, here’s the important thing, at an express speed. As if it were easy. That’s the virtue: simplifying the most difficult things. A handful of training sessions were enough for him to reincorporate all the elements of the catalog and for Cerúndolo to suffer from them; The Argentine, who is not a minor rival, but the 26th in the world, dangerous if there is a mistake, collapses in the first set and trembles in the second, when he has up to three options to balance the score and his arm shrinks, faith, because there in front is Alcaraz, and the silhouette of the Spaniard is already beginning to weigh.
“I am very happy with the level in this first match,” says the 21-year-old world number two. “I’ve only trained a couple of times, so it’s not many days to adapt my game to this surface. There are many things to improve, but in general I am happy,” Alcaraz continues, acknowledging that the first set “was a little unreal” due to the mistakes made by the opponent and that in the second he was able to find “the rhythm” that he really likes it. He already knows what he is talking about, that flow so imposing, so overflowing. From 5-3 down to break and 5-5, and from there to the closing blank, with a ace. Without hesitation, overwhelming. At the outset, a warning: here he is, the last conqueror of Wimbledon, from victory to victory. There are already 13 consecutive ones on grass, now the good Cerúndolo victim.
With Novak Djokovic absent, the Serbian trying to get back into action through rehabilitation in the gym, there is no tennis player who today has more control on the surface than Alcaraz, a sponge. “I have more matches on grass in my legs (19 in total) and with the great results I had (last year), I know better how to play, I understand the game. I’m more mature playing on this surface. I know that I will be one hundred percent sooner than last year,” warns the one from El Palmar, who has landed in the tournament accompanied by Samuel López—Pablo Carreño’s regular coach; Juan Carlos Ferrero will return to the bench for Wimbledon—and he enjoys staying in the same house where he, his family and his team had a wonderful experience a year ago.
“The first game is never easy, and even less so the first in the grass season, but I am very happy with how I did and how I served,” he points out, while the scoreboard reflects a percentage close to 89% effectiveness —for 81% on clay and 75% on hard—on a surface that most players can never figure out. “It was a great test, especially in that close second set. Happy with the way I played and especially with having overcome difficult situations in the second set. I am still learning. Last year I didn’t play here the same as I did at Wimbledon, I have to be better and continue learning how to move better,” resolves the Murcian, who in the next season, on Thursday, will face Mariano Navone or Jack Draper. “I will ask to play before… The Euro It is every four years, and now is the time to support Spain.”
Meanwhile, the draw erases the name of Alejandro Davidovich from Malaga (7-6 (6), 3-6 and 1-0 in the continuation against Alejandro Tabilo) and the Italian Jannik Sinner can beat Tallon Griekspoor in Halle, Germany (6-7 (8), 6-3 and 6-2).
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