This Carlos Alcaraz (20) becomes great and great, who learns as he goes, overcomes hesitation, manages himself with judgment and expands the package of resources. Time passes and the world of tennis surrenders at his feet, aware that the future plays in his favor.
Djokovic, the world leader who will not be in Miami because he prefers to take a break and balance his personal and professional life, is wondering things.
(His decision has its risks: if Alcaraz takes the title in the tournament that starts this week, then he will take away the world leadership).
Sinner needs to take a step forward, the Italian who is progressing little by little, more little by little than the Murcian, since his combustion is slow. The members of the Next Gen, the Zverevs, Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev, the last victim of the Murcian, surrender last night in Indian Wells.
Just as it had happened in 2023, just as it had also happened against Medvedev, the Californian desert falls into the hands of Alcaraz: 7-6 (5) and 6-1.
The world of tennis surrenders to Alcaraz, although the conquest has its hardships: some initial mistakes from the day before, Alcaraz repeats in the final.
–Before starting the tournament, I had many doubts because of my ankle injuries. In the two or three days before the tournament started, I was training with very high-level teammates and the truth is that I didn't feel well at all – she later confesses.
Just like in the semifinal against Jannik Sinner, Alcaraz himself starts dotted with doubts, hasty at times, imprecise in the decisive moments. Medvedev is a disheveled, skinny and elongated tennis player. He lacks physical grace, he is not distinguished for any reason. He throws himself back, five meters behind the baseline, and from there he makes and breaks. When hitting, he exaggerates the gesture. He risks little, just enough. And if he goes up to the net, he does it because he is forced to. It is the price he is willing to pay to face Alcaraz.
During the initial twenty minutes, the tennis of the Russian who plays without a flag is a spider web: his trap surrounds the Murcian.
Medvedev breaks Alcaraz's serve in the second game, even accelerating towards 0-3.
Wow, problems.
As the day before against the robotic Italian, Alcaraz rushes to resolve the points. He sends countless balls into the net, he makes too many unforced errors. He needs to calm down, and he does. He puts on his apron and starts cooking. He pauses. He lengthens the exchanges.
In the fifth game he recovers the lost serve, and now the scenario is transmuted. Therein lies one of Alcaraz's values, in his resilience. The Murcian learns as he goes, like the teenager who is risking his academic future in his second year of high school.
When he faces Djokovic in the Wimbledon garden, he watches the Serbian, he ends up skating on the grass, like that one. When he faces Sinner, he ignores the vertigo and the flat and forceful hitting, he goes to plan B: he takes a step back behind the baseline, lifts more than hits, makes the Italian think, who loses his mind and melts.
If he fights with Medvedev, he lengthens the exchanges, suffocates the Russian without a flag, throws him back and then executes him with drop shots.
As he immerses himself in the match, Alcaraz barely misses, who takes the first set to the tie break and almost always rules there. He signs a mini-break at the start, forcing Medvedev, who is in tow and does not dominate the game or the scoreboard.
At 1h09m, the Murcian takes the first heat and the Russian sees the wolf's fangs. Resigned, unable to recover from the blow, Medvedev limits himself to enjoying his rival's monologue and even playing with the audience.
