Carlos Alcaraz, the jewel of Spain who is revolutionizing the world of tennis

Carlos Alcaraz awaits the service of Alexander Zverev. The afternoon is hot in Madrid. The about-to-break silence in the Magic Box indicates that something big is about to happen. The German misses his first serve. The marker has the advantage of the Spaniards. Meanwhile, Zverev searches for another ball in his pocket to try to save the fourth match point versus. Second serve and the capricious ball hits the net to go away .

Static, the board stops counting and displays its truth: 6-3 and 6-1, in an hour and a minute of play. At that moment, the Central Court Manolo Santana collapses and the Madrid public explodes with jubilation in front of another title of the new jewel of the ATP .

The young tennis player has just won the second Masters 1000 of his career after having pulverized the German in the final. And in the final in Madrid, the Spaniard passed off the world number three for a rookie, who bowed to the precise strikes of his rival.

In reality, After finishing the game, the German was adamant about his opponent’s level: ‘He’s the best player in the world’ .

But it wasn’t just Zverev he beat. Along the way, he dropped those who had dominated the ATP circuit for years: Rafael Nadal (4), in the quarter-finals, and Novak Djokovic (1), in the semi-finals. All this, with only 19 years barely turned.

And it is that that of Murcia had a simply spectacular 2022. As well as the title in the Spanish capital, Alcaraz won what was the first major title of his career, the Miami Masters 1000, wiping Cilic, Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud off the map.

To all this he added the title in Barcelona, ​​just before Madrid, and secured the crown in Rio de Janeiro. A track record nourished at his young age which indicates that the promise has already been consecrated.

Originally from El Palmar, Murcia, the tennis player entered the Juan Carlos Ferrero academy at the age of 14, where he had an important promotion under the command of the former number one coach as a player . And since he was little, Carlitos showed himself as a quiet and hardworking athlete. In this small town he lived with his Carlos Alcaraz and Virginia Garfia, and his three brothers, Álvaro, Sergio and Jaime. Carlos is the second of four. From his father and grandfather, he inherited the passion for tennis.

Qualities that Rafael Nadal himself underlined at the time, when he declared that the Murcian “he has all the ingredients: passion, humility, talent and physique, which reminds me a lot of me when I was his age. He is already a rival in the present ”.

For this reason, one of the surprising elements of the young tennis player is that he is not someone blinded by early success. Discreet and even smiling profile, as noted with Zverev once the awards were given, he is always focused on what is happening on the pitch.

And it was during the 2021 season that he broke into the ATP. If already after the pandemic, Alcaraz had won his first ATP Challenger title, in Trieste, after beating the local Riccardio Bonadio, in less than two years, the pupil of Ferrero went from position 146 in the ranking to sixth .

A dizzying rise for Carlitos, who at 17 had already won his first match in a Grand Slam tournament. On this occasion, he was able to beat the Dutchman Van de Zandschulp (31) at the Australian Open.

At 18 years and 3 months, Alcaraz has also succeeded in what the big 3 had failed to do: win at least one match in the four Grand Slam tournaments. In addition to the above, at the US Open 2021 and against Tsitsipas, he scored his best victory as a professional at the time, when he beat the world number three. Triumph that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic didn’t win either .

And clay is the surface that best suits the one who today aims to be the best under 21. On clay, for example, he won his first title in Umag, Croatia. Then he went to compete in the Next Gen, which brought together the best 8 of 2021 under 21 years old. There he had no rivals and managed to impose himself on his entire generation .

And as expected, and inevitably, the opinions about his game began, which was already beginning to manifest itself as a project within the circuit.

For example, Toni Nadal, who elevated Rafa to legend, addressed the comparisons that were already being made with the Manacor man at that time. “It doesn’t seem wrong to me that they compare him to Rafa, because although they are different players, they share the sacrifice of playing and the decision to win. “, he said at the time.

To this, he added praise for the game of the young tennis player. “He is a very complete player with good technique. His game is modern, he tries to hit the ball hard and very fast, with very aggressive tennis. If he continues to be so focused on his work, he has a hopeful future. ”.

A modern game, which results in the fact that the tennis player takes advantage of all the qualities and reduces the defects to a minimum. A capacity for adaptation which for his trainer is unique, and which he has been able to testify to since his arrival at the Ferrero academy.

“He’s one of the few players I’ve seen who can adapt in a very short time to the level of any player you put in front of him. “, he said, remembering his potential. To this he added the ability and drive that Carlitos exhibits every time he faces a match.

“He is a very dynamic tennis player, who likes to play very aggressive. He feels very comfortable on all surfaces, he likes fast courts, because he ends up at net a lot, but clay does not bother him ”.

Another of those who saw in Alcaraz the epitome of modern tennis was Gustavo Luza, former Davis Cup captain with Argentina, and who faced the Murcian in 2019. For him, the future of the pupil of Ferrero is great because, according to him, he is the best of the new faces that populate the ATP.

“It will be the best of all the new faces we see. Physically, he seems very fast to me and has a lot of generosity in movement, which says a lot about a player who is not only fast, but also has a good attitude to move. “, commented the coach some time ago about the game of Carlitos.

In Madrid, the promise ceased to be. Now it is a reality. In the Spanish capital, Alcaraz has established itself as the heir to the legacy of Rafael Nadal and Spain’s continuity as an icon of world tennis. At just 19 years old, the future of tennis was already born.