Perfectly fulfilling his role as favorite in all forums, yesterday afternoon Carlos Alcaraz was proclaimed champion in Paris and thus won his first Grand Slam on clay. The other two that he owns, the Wimbledon on grass and the United States on hard court, give a good example, in case anyone had doubts, of the great quality of his tennis. He is the youngest tennis player to win three major tournaments on different surfaces and, of course, one of the most successful at only 21 years old. All this data and the sufficiency and great tennis quality that he shows in the most important events only let us intuit that in a few years he will become one of the best players of all time.
I was writing this previous paragraph on my laptop yesterday afternoon, after Alcaraz won the first set, Zverev the second and our player took a clear 5-2 lead in the third, with the joyful intention of saving the game. somewhat the rush in which a text is written for the next day’s edition. The victory of the third set seemed imminent and it seemed to me that, if confirmed, it would be very difficult for him to escape victory.
And yet, to my surprise, Carlos lowered the intensity of his game a little and began to lose concentration at times; With 5-4 and service for him he made a somewhat ill-advised change in strategy, played hastily and stopped doing what had been giving him such good results until then. A magnificent Zverev took advantage of that indecision and, adding one game after another, he also ended up winning the third round and leaving these lines that I had begun to write before it should have been put on hold.
I didn’t delete them, luckily, and in a short time we saw the real Alcaraz again. He soon knew how to make up for his mistake, he accelerated the pace of the game, his concentration went up a notch, he once again deployed with order and commanded with his forehand. From here until the end of the match, he no longer gave his rival a choice.
In the previous article I wrote that one of the differences between yesterday’s two finalists was the competitiveness of both players. I think this is the German’s Achilles heel.
In my opinion, he made a decisive mistake. After scoring the third set, at the beginning of the fourth, a tremendous effort of concentration was required, fighting for each ball one hundred percent and trying by all means to keep Carlos from losing the score. For this not to happen, there could be no moment of weakness and not let a reaction emerge that for me was very demonstrative. In the second point of the first game, coming off the great comeback of the previous set and after leading 0-15 on the scoreboard, Alexander made an insignificant error and turned angrily to his side. boxes complaining about it. Fifteen minutes later, in the blink of an eye, the Spaniard was already leading 4-0 in this significant round.
Despite the magnificent player he is, and I certainly feel for him – because we maintain a very friendly relationship – the fact that he cannot control these situations is what has surely prevented him from having managed to score any Grand Slam tournament. . The other side of the coin is the attitude of the new winner. Carlos faced the fourth set after suffering a painful comeback without losing his nerve, his conviction or his faith in victory. Something only available to the great champions. My most sincere congratulations.
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