Alcaraz warms up in the New York jungle and is already in the semis

2023-09-07 06:09:36

Life is contradictions. It was difficult for Carlos Alcaraz to warm up on a hot night in the tropical jungle in New York, with an elegant fan and ridiculous hand fan, which melted the ice of the con-cocktails sold in bars and turned the US Open Center Court into an overcooked, sticky human mass.

It was also contradictory that his rival on Wednesday night, Alexander Zverev, came out with better tone than the Spaniard at the start of the US Open quarterfinals. The German had taken a phenomenal beating two nights before, in the round of 16, against Jannik Sinner. The young Italian wore him down in five epic sets that lasted until dawn. Zverev appeared at Arthur Ashe with 14 hours and 15 minutes of tennis on his legs. Alcaraz, just over eight and a half hours.

But the Murcian caught a temperature when necessary and Zverev accused the physical and mental exhaustion. Alcaraz closed the match in three sets (6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and he is, once again, in the semifinals of a big one.

The Murcian opened the game with a double fault and a cane, a blow to the bone of the racket that shoots the ball into the stands. It was not a harbinger of a bleak night, but it was a mediocre first set. Alcaraz lacked spark, aggressiveness. His drop shot, which did not appear until the fifth game, did not work, died before the net or arrived inconsequential, without finesse. From the bottom, his blows came out soft. The first serves almost never went in.

Halfway through the first set, the embarrassment was hot and threatened to be tennis. The world number one and current champion of the tournament -Alcaraz- and Zverev, an eternal aspirant to inherit the throne of the ‘Big Three’ (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic), did not lift anyone from the seat. Muddy in mistakes, if one stood out it was the German, powerful from the bottom line, his territory. With 3-3 on the scoreboardenjoyed two serve break points.

It was the moment in which the difference between the great players and the champions was noticed. Zverev wasted both. That’s where the quality and determination of Alcaraz appeared, who raised the situation with phenomenal serve-volley combinations and, with saves, after he didn’t work for him on several occasions, a volley to win the game. Soon after, at his first opportunity, he broke Zverev’s serve. And after landing less than 50% of his first serves thus far, he closed out the set with three powerful first serves, including an ace.

That’s as far as Zverev’s strength came. Alcaraz warmed up his right hand, improved the serve, refined the net and did not give chances to his rival. The other two sets were a downhill for the Murcian, solid, very in tune with the rest and, finally, with smiles and a show.

This Friday an even more complicated rival awaits him, Daniil Medvedev, champion here in 2021. The last hurdle before the final, the reissue of his title, his third ‘big’.