Alcaraz begins his era

On April 17, 2005, Rafa Nadal triumphed in Monte Carlo. It was the confirmation of the beginning of an era that still lasts. This Sunday, the 3rd of the same month but 16 years and 11 and a half months later, Carlos Alcaraz won a tournament in the same category in Miami, and began his own era. At that time, the Spaniard won his fourth title at the age of 18, this is the third for the Murcian at the same age, the fourth if the NextGen ATP Finals are counted. It is inevitable to resort to this parallelism with a difference of 6,195 days, because the sensations are similar. Alcaraz, just strong, was able to get Casper Ruud (7-5 ​​and 6-4 in 1h52) by category, intelligence and class.

Charly was crowned in a cursed square for Spanish men’s tennis (in the women’s draw, the great Arantxa Sánchez Vicario took the trophy twice), where not even Nadal has been able to register his name in the list of winners despite playing five finals. Bruguera also tried. Moya and Ferrer. A fact that magnifies the feat of the El Palmar prodigy, that he is the third youngest player who manages to sign up for a Masters 1,000, after Chang and Nadal (see table). He is the earliest to taste success in Miami, ahead of Djokovic, who was 19 years old when he achieved it in 2007. Alcaraz was three and surely had not yet seen a tennis match.

“I’m going to play this final as if it were the first round,” Carlos had said after beating former champion Hurkacz in the semi-finals. And he fought it to win it. In fact, she hasn’t lost any yet. And that the game did not start well for him. Among other things because Ruud responded very well to his frequent drops, by intuition and legs. However, the kid never leaves the games, not even in games in which he loses 40-0. In such a situation he had his first break ball and realized that he could turn the score around. Think and shut up, his coach, Ferrero, gestured at him from the stands. With some serves and volleys, he assured his services and subtracted his rival’s seconds further back. In this way, the result went from 4-1 for Casper to 7-5 with which Carlos took the lead.

nerves and solutions

With his nerves under control and his innate reading of matches, Alcaraz broke Ruud’s kick-off in the second set and did it again the next time. Then he conceded a break that perhaps he did not expect and the closing was complicated against an opponent who, seeing himself defeated, let go. He was playing in his tenth final (he has accumulated seven titles) and was number 8 in the world (today he will be 7). However, as one fan’s banner read in reference to the mythical Alcatraz prison, ‘It is impossible to escape from Alcaraz’. The champion resolved in a big way: blank game culminated with a short volley. This is how he won a top-10 for the seventh time, with the Hard Rock audience at his feet, greeting the beginning of another era. The era of Alcaraz.

Results of the Miami Masters 1,000.