Special envoy to London
After sending the 36-year-old Frenchman Jérémy Chardy (6-0, 6-2, 7-5) to retirement without shaking, the world number 1 mastered without shaking the French qualifier Alexandre Müller (6-4, 7- 6, 6-3), this Friday, in 2:33. Under the sun again and in the swirling wind of the Center Court, the Alcaraz tornado provided the essentials while evolving on alternating current (32 winning points but also 41 faults direct). “I don’t have much experience on grass yet but I feel good here. It was my second game only on Center Court, I’m happy to have won this time. I wanted to enjoy every moment,” he said hotly.
Winner at Queen’s ten days ago of his first title on grass, the Spaniard continues his accelerated learning on this very special surface. His early catches and ability to accelerate from any part of the pitch are always devastating. But it is above all his fluid movements on a surface where he had only played two tournaments before his recent London title – Wimbledon in 2021 (defeat in the 2nd round) and in 2022 (defeat in the round of 16) – which mark (already) the spirits. “I played Queen’s with no particular expectation and won it. For me, it was good to see that I could play at this level and the confidence grew. But I’ve only played 12 games on grass since the start of my career. I still have to spend hours on the grass. I would say the hardest part is staying focused all the time. Against Chardy, I lost focus in the 3rd set and he broke me right away. I still have to improve in this area.”
Before winning two titles at Church Road in 2008 and 2010, his glorious elder Rafael Nadal, the king of Roland-Garros, took time to adapt his game from dirt to grass. The prodigy of Murcia has the weapons to have the green foot earlier. “I feel like I’ve been playing on grass for ten years,” he admits. I did not think that my game and my movements would adapt so quickly. I really try to be constantly aggressive and dictate the game with my forehand. That’s my style of play and that’s probably the most important thing on grass, along with hitting the net and hitting big shots.”
His science of short game or his natural sliced backhand are weapons he also masters. If it is difficult to find flaws in him on the tennis level, the Spaniard only seems to be able to come up against his own physical limits. And they were cruelly brought to light against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals at Roland-Garros. Victim of right forearm cramps at the end of the second set, the 20-year-old phenomenon had not been able to manage his nervousness, let go by his physique. The Murcian had landed in Paris with the status of favorite. Not in London, where the favorite of the bookmakers obviously remains the seven-time winner Novak Djokovic, who faced Stan Wawrinka in the 3rd round on Friday evening. Asked about his failure in Paris, the Spaniard said: “Djokovic’s pressure is the one he puts on his opponent, not just on me. He is capable of putting that pressure for three hours on anyone in a Grand Slam match. I have to learn how to deal with this, I really want to. I now hope to play a final against him here. But, for me, that would probably be the hardest thing. On grass, he does things easily, he moves really well, he hits clearly. I would say he’s not doing anything wrong.”
The “fragile” Alcaraz had been hit in the adductor of the right thigh in the final of the Queen’s tournament, but the alert seems to have been definitively lifted. In 2008, Nadal the land had overthrown Roger Federer in his English garden after a legendary final in five sets. Fifteen years later, the prodigy dreams of bringing down the master of the place on Sunday, July 16. But the road is still long for the one who already represents the future of tennis.
