2024-02-13 04:23:46
Carlos Alcaraz He is not yet 21 years old. According to the criteria of whoever analyzes it, even still could be considered a minor. Even so, with the very short career that he has accumulated on the ATP circuit – just two full seasons on the tour, He has already become a living legend.
Of marathon ascent, won his last Challenger in May 2021, in Oeiras, and that same year he would lift his first ATP trophy: it was in Umag, Croatia, after beating Richard Gasquet in the final. All that was buried in a very frantic way.
A few months later, in 2022, he won two Masters 1000 – Miami and Madrid – before consecrate himself in the US Open and take over history: with that feat he would become the youngest world number one since the creation of the ranking in 1973: He reached the top at 19 years, 4 months and 6 days. Already in 2023 he had another consecrated season: two more Masters 1000 -Indian Wells and Madrid- and heaven, with a fascinating feat at Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic.
So small but with such big dreams: sporting greed and Alcaraz’s aspirations do not end. On the contrary: he seems to have won everything but he will not settle: “I am very competitive and ambitious; I want to win everything I play, that drives me and makes me face each tournament with great enthusiasm. Seeing Djokovic up there and the rest of the tennis players who win motivates me to fight with them. I want to try to get closer to the Big 3… I am a boy who dreams big,” said the Spaniard, current number two in the ATP ranking, regarding the records they hold. the members of the Big 3: Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
In advance of his debut in the Argentina Openscheduled for this Thursday before the winner of the duel between Juan Pablo Varillas and Camilo Ugo Carabelli, the defending champion, who last year revolutionized the environment, He exhibited the sensations of a new visit to Buenos Aires, a city that attracted him from the first day: “Last year I came because I didn’t have any games, I hadn’t competed for a while, I needed to play, I loved the tournament. The vibrations and energy that are experienced here are special: to those who do not come I would tell them to try it because this tour is wonderful.”
And he added, always smiling, before a packed press room: “I had a great year from Buenos Aires onwards. Things happened to me. “I want to see how it goes this year.” But he also highlighted that Buenos Aires should be an ATP 500, the category to which he aspired to go up this year but fell short: “Compared to last year there were changes; this year it improved a lot. The courts are very good, the organization is attentive to every detail and that is wonderful for us, with an audience that is very involved in tennis. If it becomes an ATP 500 I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”
Now Alcaraz finds himself in the middle of a triangle that seems to fight for everything at the top of the circuit. A three-point piece that he shares with Djokovic himself and the Italian Jannik Sinner, perhaps one of the players of the moment, recent champion of the Australian Open and the Davis Cup with his country’s shirt.
This is how I value it: “I think Djokovic and Sinner are the rivals to beat. Although they are all tough, (Alexander) Zverev is also dangerous. He always does well against me: he has a positive track record. But now the two of them are at the top.”
Monday’s results:
Tomás Etcheverry 6-4, 6-1 to Roberto Carballés Baena (España).
Facundo Díaz Acosta 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) to Daniel Altmaier (Germany).
Stanislas Wawrinka 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-2 to Pedro Cachín.
Laslo Djere (Serbia) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 to Marin Cilic (Croatia).
Tuesday’s schedule:
– Guillermo Vilas Center Court –
. At 1:30 p.m.:
Federico Coria (Argentina) vs. Sebastian Ofner (Austria).
. Next:
Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) vs. Daniel Galán (Colombia).
. Not before 6:30 p.m.:
Arthur Fils (France) vs. Dusan Lajovic (Serbia).
. Not before 8:00 p.m.:
Sebastián Báez (Argentina) vs. Bernabé Zapata Miralles (Spain).
– Court number 2 –
. At 1:30 p.m.:
Yannick Hanfmann (Germany) vs. Alejandro Tabilo (Chile).
. Next:
Camilo Ugo Carabelli (Argentina) vs. Juan Pablo Varillas (Peru).
. Not before 5:30 p.m.:
Luciano Darderi (Italy) vs. Mariano Navone (Argentina).
. Next:
Jaume Munar (Spain) and Roberto Carballés Baena (Spain) vs. Federico Delbonis (Argentina) and Facundo Bagnis (Argentina).
– Court number 3 –
. At 2:30 p.m.:
Andrea Vavassori (Italy) vs. Thiago Seyboth Wild (Brasil).