Whereas everybody wanted to avoid Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open draw, perhaps nobody was too concerned with where he landed in the field of 128 at Wimbledon.
Fast forward through the first week and it suddenly looks like a potential Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic match in the quarterfinals could be an absolute blockbuster.
The 19-year-old had played only two matches in his career on grass prior to arriving at the All-England Club. On the heels of a grueling and mostly successful clay-court swing that came immediately following the Miami Masters title, he did not play a single warmup tournament before Wimbledon and instead chose to rest. Thus expectations were relatively low for the season’s third Grand Slam.
Well, Alcaraz Mania that engulfed the ATP Tour from February through May could be back in a big way.
Since requiring five sets to get past Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round, the world No. 7 has taken his grass-court court game to new heights. He made relatively routine work of Tallon Griekspoor (6-4, 7-6(0), 6-3) in the second round was even more impressive in a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 destruction of Oscar Otte on Friday evening. Alcaraz fired 37 winners compared to only eight unforced errors while storming through that third-round contest in a mere one hour and 38 minutes.
It’s not like Otte is some kind of pushover on a grass court, either. The 36th-ranked German recently advanced to the semifinals in both Stuttgart and Halle, beating four top-30 opponents in the process.
So when you destroy Otte with the loss of just six games in three sets, you are doing something right.
“I played unbelievable today,” Alcaraz assured. “This was my best performance (of the tournament) so far. So I’m really happy with the level.
“Just hours on court,” he said when asked about the reason for his improvement match by match. “I’m more comfortable [moving] on grass right now than (in) the first round, for example. Every training, every match that I play, I feel more comfortable. Every day that [goes by], I feel more ready.
“On grass you have to play aggressive, you have to go to the net, you have to try to play more aggressive than the opponent. That’s my idea that I try in every match, to [not] let the opponent dominate the game, dominate the match. Right now I think I did it. I’m trying to in the next round [to do] it again.”
Dominate is exactly what Djokovic has done in each of his last two matches. Now if the Serb and Spaniard can get past Tim van Rijthoven and Jannik Sinner, respectively, the stage will be set.
It didn’t seem like it a few days ago, but suddenly it’s a stage that could produce something special.
nice one, Carlitos
In a word, no. Hard courts? Perhaps. Clay? Maybe. Not grass (at least not yet).
Could be a thriller….like Kyrios-Tpas…..I’ll take Alcaraz in 4.
If Alcaraz and Djoko meet in the QF, I think Alcaraz is good enough to push it to five sets, but Djoko is far too experienced a player on grass and he will edge past the very talented Alcaraz to reach the SF.
If Alcaraz continues to improve so quickly on grass, he will be a threat on grass and a legitimate contender for the Wimbledon title next year.
I agree, I don’t see Djokovic losing a 5 set match on grass against Alcaraz, not yet
Grass? No
Clay? Yes
Hards ? Maybe
Alcarez most probably win multiple RG’s.
I think Alcaraz will eventually bag all 4 GS…
Eugene, not so fast 😉 We have said for many years exactly the same about other young talents, but except for the USO titles for Medvedev and Thiem, whom we had pencilled in for a couple of RGs, which never materialized, nobody delivered. Especially Zverev’s failure at the slams is puzzling. While he has beaten many top players and won the year-end championship twice, he hasn’t been able to handle the slam modus with two weeks of best-of-five matches.
Alcaraz’s situation might be a bit different, though, because the devastating dominance of the Big Three is definitely over. Roger is probably not a serious slam contender anymore, Rafa’s time is running out fast, and besides his increasing age Novaxx is handicapped by his unwillingness to get jabbed. This means that Alcaraz is in a much better position than Thiem, Tsitsipas, Zverev and the other young guns who are actually not so young anymore. Alcaraz is talented, powerful and he is a fighter who learns quickly! He also seems to be able to handle best-of-five matches, and he can dig himself out of a hole. But so far he hasn’t even won one slam! It’s too early to predict anything. Even the Big Three needed a lot of time for accomplishing the career slam.
True, I agree with Littlefoot, it’s not so easy winning a slam, more so winning at all the four slams.
We had seen how Zverev dealt with Alcaraz at the FO; I won’t be surprised that Meddy would also beat him at the HC slams. On grass at Wimbledon, there’s Berrettini and the other big servers (Kyrgios for example). They are not going away anytime soon, it’s not only the aging big three that Alcaraz has to deal with!
Alcaraz may have all the shots in the book, and really good tennis acumen or court craft, and he’s fast around the court, and it seems he can move well on any surface; But, he’s not a world beater yet. From his match against Zverev at RG, I realise that he doesn’t know how to make changes to his tactics or game plan when it’s not working for him.
Zverev simply overpowered Alcaraz, while Alcaraz was fighting fire with fire, his fire wasn’t big enough in this case. He was at wit’s end when he couldn’t withstand Zverev’s bombardment. I was thinking at that time that a Murray type of player would change his pace of shots a bit, absorbed the pace from Zverev, and rushed to the net more often and not allowing Zverev to hit his powerful penetrating shots so often.
What Alcaraz is lacking now is: how to make changes mid match, when his game isn’t good enough to overcome his opponent. Sometimes fighting fire with fire isn’t the best way to go about winning a match, you must know how to make things difficult for your opponent (as Rafa has said so often). In other words, you must know how to solve problems when things are not going your way, by making changes to your game plan as and when necessary.
Lucky, very good analysis of Alcaraz’s strengths and weaknesses, which have been exposed by Zverev! Alcaraz seems to be a quick learner and he will probably get there. But at the first two slams of this season he hasn’t been beaten by Rafa or Novak or another older guy but by relatively young players who are more experienced than him. Let’s wait and see how he will progress from there.
littlefoot,
I agree with you. These kinds of predictions so early in a player’s career don’t mean much. Thiem had this bad wrist injury that took him out of action for a long time. Now he has struggled to find his firm again since his return. He seemed assured of winning RG after semifinal and final appearances. Only Rafa still being there prevented him from winning RG. He already won his first slam at the USO beating Zverev.
There are some really good players who have done well now. It is foolish to think that Alcaraz is going to just monopolize the slams. It us true that the big three will retire soon. That will open up more opportunities.
I have felt for a while now that the other players will figure out Alcaraz. Nobody is unbeatable. Every player has both strengths and weaknesses.
It can be tricky to predict what will happen.
Well, an Alcaraz vs. Djoker quarterfinal could be the only serious challenge for Novak, who will almost certainly reach another Wimby final. I do not believe that Alcaraz can pull it off just yet, though. Right now the virus might be Novak’s most dangerous opponent.
I do really want to see a Novak vs Alcaraz quarterfinal, and I don’t doubt Carlos can push Novak. I know Novak is NOT looking forward to meeting Carlos but he is also looking to spank his butt here!!! This could be scintillating!😆😆 Fireworks!
But one thing I’ve learned about tennis is that early round performance is not always a good indication of someone”s game. The early rounds are where one works themself to form and to peak at the right time. Let’s c if Alcaraz can pass Sinner first!!! Tennis is a very strange affair!
Monalisa, it’s true that the dynamics change over the course of two weeks, and Wimby is the only slam, where the surface itself changes because the grass gets more and more damaged! According to popular opinion Rafa becomes more dangerous in the second week of the tournament, but he is not quite there, yet…
Everybody is overlooking rithoven..is everybody saying Djokovic in 3 there ?
Carlos djoko pressure on djoko .Carlos can just play freely
Not me. I think van Rijthoven gives Djokovic a hard time in the round of 16.
I don’t know much about this Rijthoven. I am interested to check him out since some here think he could trouble Novak.
Carlos actually is playing with a lot less UFEs apparently so let’s c! Wimby is turning out to be quite exciting after all even with depleted field and NO points, lol!! Can’t imagine it being any better even if things were different! 😄
I don’t know that I buy into this narrative that Novak is playing so great on grass and almost no one can beat him. He didn’t actually play that well at wimby last year, it’s just that the other players were pretty dreadful/ mediocre.
Then he lost at the Olympics. Then he played a poor match against Med at the USO. He looks great against players who don’t have the weapons to scare him. But how he plays under pressure is a different matter and I actually think if Alcaraz goes out playing really fearless he could beat him.
I also think Novak has put himself under a lot of pressure due to his Novax stance so that he knows he can’t play and win another slam until next year.
Really? I have not been captivated, yet, and too many favorites are missing or went out early. But I do not at all intend to criticize your remarks. Everybody sees it differently. It’s great that you enjoy Wimby 😀
Littlefoot, yes I’m enjoying it! 😀
The favorites are out bcoz perhaps they weren’t really favorites after all? 😄 And which favorites are missing? I can’t think of any, and even if they are, they perhaps would have gone out early too! It’s the same with FO, all those that were expected to give Rafa troubles all went out even before they went deep so………..
Anyway, looks like all the ppl I’m supporting today r not fairing very well or have lost, Coco, Swaitek, Barbosa! Hope that does not extend to the men 😝🤪 or else I won’t be a happy camper! I really need something to make me smile today considering that my car decided to konk out on me 😞! So Rafa, Vamos!!!
Monalisa, sorry about your car! Hope, it can be fixed quickly and in an affordable way!
Yes, there has been again another mass exit of ranked players today. I feel bad about Gauff, Swiatek and Kvitova! I like that Harmony Tan is progressing!
I hope, too, that Rafa doesn’t catch the
upset virus 😉 But, as I have said already, I am not too worried about Sonego. But if Rafa goes down, he should take a more than well deserved vacation and come back stronger to the North American hardcourt swing, where he has a history of great successes!
Thank you, Littlefoot!
Well Rafa past the test in very impressive fashion so i give him an A+!
Let’s hope his performance curve elevates with each match.
Alcaraz is not beating djoko in Wimbledon. I see djoko winning in straight sets should that match up ever happen. On hard courts, i will give it 70:30 to djokovic. On clay it is 50:50.
Djoko is really playing well this wimbledon. If he keeps that level up, then its going to be difficult to stop him. Only a rafa of 2018 Wimbledon can handle djoko on grass. Hope that rafa seriously improves his game and gets to that level or even better.