Wimbledon
Alcaraz makes history on the way to SF at Wimbledon
Defeated reigning champion Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals
July 9, 2024
Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Carlos Alcaraz is the current Wimbledon champion.
By the ATPtour.com/es Team
Not many Spaniards have appeared in the finals of Wimbledon throughout history and even fewer have managed to progress to the semi-finals on several occasions. One of them is Carlos Alcaraz, who returned to this round in London last Tuesday, just as he did last year.
The Grand Slam champion won on grass Tommy Paul, a player who came inspired on the surface – he was 9-0 before the Wimbledon quarter-finals -, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6 -2 in three times the hours and 10 minutes at Center Court.
In this way, Alcaraz became the third player from his country to appear in the semifinals of the tournament multiple times, along with Rafael Nadal (eight appearances) and Manuel Santana (2).
In addition, the 21-year-old from Murcia tied coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer with six appearances in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament, placing him in a historic third place among Spanish players.
Spaniards with the most SF in the Grand Slams
Rafael Nadal: 38
Manuel Santana: 8
Carlos Alcaraz: 6
David Ferrer: 6
Juan Carlos Ferrero: 6
Sergi Bruguera: 4
Andres Gimeno: 4
Manuel Orantes: 4
Alcaraz shares his six Grand Slam semifinals with two appearances in this round, both at Roland Garros (champion 2023, 2024), Wimbledon (champion 2023, 2024) and US Open (champion 2022, 2023).
To qualify among the top four in London he had to beat one of the fittest competitors on this grass tour and one of the players who had the hardest time winning in recent times.
And Paul, looking to progress to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time, came to the event as the reigning Queen’s champion. Although the Lexus ATP Head2Head was tied 2-2, it was all history on hard court and in the ATP Masters 1000 final.
There was no disappointment in the encounter between two players who had a lot to do with the surface, as both gave their all on every inch of the court. Above all, in the sixth game, which lasted almost twenty minutes and Alcaraz was left behind, after 9 deuces (3-3). Before that, they had already broken one of them to exchange.
But it was precisely the determination to face break opportunities that made the difference in the first set. The Spaniard could only convert one of his nine, while the American scored two in six attempts. And so, with the score 7-5, Pól closed the opening set in eleven hours and twelve minutes.
While the Spaniard was looking for answers to what had just happened, Paul took the opportunity to extend his good moment and win four games in a row. He served 2-0 in his favor to consolidate the advantage, but the most competitive version of Alcaraz made an appearance on Center Court. They won the gap on the scoreboard and won six of the next eight games.
The Moor continued with the only thing he had left: heart and dedication. Without brilliance in the service until the third set, with percentages that efficiency barely reached 60% with the two first (60%) and second (61%) and with a list of more errors (33) than winners (26), the recipe helped he ordered a crazy third set with three breaks between them (3-1).
Despite the long list of missed opportunities for the rest, he was able to persevere and continue to convert his sixth break (in 22 opportunities) in the seventh game and move one set away from victory (6-2).
In the fourth set – the strongest of the game – Alcaraz confirmed his 12th consecutive victory at the All England Club (2023-24) and also in the Grand Slam (champion at Roland Garros and semi-final at Wimbledon). To try to improve this statistic, the No. 1 seed Spaniard will need to 5 Daniil Medvedev, who cut the path to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, beating Jannik Sinner.
Did you know…?
Carlos Alcaraz tied Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon with six Grand Slam semifinals at age 21 or younger. That was the same number achieved by Bjorn Borg and Andre Agassi and only Boris Becker and Mats Wilander (8) were more precocious.