A showdown between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz headlines the afternoon session at the U.S. Open on Friday. Another seeded-vs.-unseeded matchup pits Dan Evans against Alexei Popyrin as fourth-round spots start being handed out.
Carlos Alcaraz vs. (3) Stefanos Tsitsipas
It will be a battle between two projected future Grand Slam champions when Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz square off in round three of the U.S. Open on Friday afternoon. Of course, only one is considered to be a contender right here and right now. That is obviously Tsitsipas, who is No. 3 in the world and already a slam runner-up (this year’s French Open). The Greek is off to a successful but unspectacular start in New York, where has defeated Andy Murray in five sets and Adrian Mannarino in four.
Five years Tsitsipas’ junior at 18, Alcaraz may not be quite there yet–but he is on the rise in a big way. The Spaniard is playing especially well right now, with his first career title in Umag earlier this summer and a semifinal appearance in Winston-Salem. So far this week he has ousted Cameron Norrie in straight sets and Arthur Rinderknech in four. Alcaraz has all the tools to trouble Tsitsipas and hang with him in the power department, but the favorite will likely have too much experience and too much variety.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 4
Alexei Popyrin vs. (24) Dan Evans
Evans and Popyrin will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers and for the second time this summer. They just squared off on the grass courts of Queen’s Club, where Evans cruised 6-4, 6-4.
A hard court should be slightly more advantageous for Popyrin, so a more competitive contest can be expected. The 73rd-ranked Aussie has emerged from a brief slump, too, with confidence-boosting wins over Radu Albot and Grigor Dimitrov (the latter via retirement, but Popyrin was about to finish off a straight-set victory). However, this is likely another case of one guy with a ton of variety taking advantage of a more one dimensional opponents. Evans, who is coming off four-set defeats of Thiago Monteiro and Marcos Giron, will probably be too tough.
Pick: Evans in 5
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well these matches turned out to be good….
Alcaraz the new Rafa, but I prefer his game so far, and doing well at 18 on a US Open hardcourt proves that.
He’s not a “new Rafa”. The games aren’t particularly similar and he’s likely to do better on hc than clay. Which would be a Good Thing for him since there’s more hc than clay.
My question is the Eternal one in Tennis. Was this a case of Alcaraz playing really well, or was Tsitsipas playing poorly? Probably some of both. Don’t think Tsitsi has ever done particularly well at the USO?
Well, he’s been called the best prospect in Spanish tennis since Rafa – the so comparisons are bound to happen .And if you believe what you read on here, Rafa did start out at 17 playing a much more aggressive game than he did later on – because he was coached out of it by Toni.
Young Rafa had the slowest serve in men’s tennis so he was always a counterpuncher, depending on speed. Loved watching him. After his foot injury late in 2005 he did work on his serve and became more aggressive but his game got much more aggressive after Moya joined the team in late 2016. It had to. But he “misses his legs”.
That’s not what Lucky Star said about the young Rafa. I agree with you though .
But I dont read too much into that win over Tsitsi. With so many bathroom breaks he’s obviously in need of medical attention
I don’t really get this turning Tsitsipas into the one and only scapegoat for a widespread issue in tennis. It’s beyond absurd that he was literally anointed the “villain” of the US Open by television commentators while another player took the same amount of time in the bathroom and no one even cared …
If there is a problem players have with Tsitsipas appearing to stretch rules repeatedly surely there must be far better ways of dealing with it than tweeting and making accusations in the media and basically turning it into a pile-on that didn’t change a single rule, only served to make someone a mental wreck (not at all suggesting he lost for that reason, Alcaraz was terrific, but he clearly has been upset by the situation since Cincinnati.)
It seems particularly ironic that all this is going on during a US Open that was supposedly putting an emphasis on respecting the players’ mental health. It seems good to have constructive discussions about MTOs and bathroom breaks and coaching. But the amount of pure and uncalled-for hate that has been whipped up toward Tsitsipas on social media right now as if he were some sort of unparalleled monster of the tennis world is really sad for both him and tennis.
The problem with us is that we like to have our cake and eat it. Social media is now a very important part of our lives where some ppl cannot live without it. Celebrities and stars love it and use it to advance themselves and careers, but the flip side of that is SM leaves you very exposed and ppl obviously don’t like that. However, that’s the price you pay in this era of social media. You will be lauded one day and vilified the next, in both cases, whether deservedly or not! And there is not much anyone can do about it but accept it and find a way to manage it.
Tsistipas has gained a reputation for being a cheat quite early on in his career but since the bathroom break debacle a few weeks ago it has escalated the situation and the match last night just added another layer when he was called out for on court coaching. If he and his dad both insist on not changing their behaviors well I am sorry Tsistipas will continue to be afflicted with this negative reputation, and of course it may either make him or break him, mental issues or no!! My belief is a lot of those things are ALWAYS self-inflicted and ppl must take responsibility for their bad behaviors and not expect others to not chastise them for it. I could c that the crowd reaction was bothering Tsistipas and may have affected his play but this is the prime opportunity for him to learn to handle these tough and hostile situations like all those before him, and just play fair and man up!!! Sigh!!!
Again, Tsitsipas is far from the only player sometimes taking bathroom breaks or long and multiple MTOs so there’s no point in acting as if that’s the case (except to create a media narrative of the villain and I get why ESPN, for one, does that but it’s worth saying that it has a very real human cost for ANY player to whom it happens–and it is not inevitable, they don’t have to do that). Another player took an 8-minute bathroom break in a match he lost and nothing negative was said about this player so it’s not actually to do with the act itself.
I’m fine with constructive criticism. It seems obvious that if there is a consistent problem with a player’s behavior that this is an area where the ATP could step in behind-the-scenes and address it with him and his coaches without creating a whole pile-on. They certainly did that with Kyrgios and he was never #3 in the world or close. Or if there are rules that need to be clarified (and it seems there are) that is something the Players Council should be very vocal on. But that’s not what went on here at all.
“Cheating” is a strong word. I have yet to see any evidence of actual cheating. Maybe there is some but it’s not been presented so until it is that is just conjecture. His father gets out of control in the stands (and probably shouldn’t be his coach) but that’s not very consequential stuff and also has gone on with many father coaches for decades. The phone accusations are completely unproven. The bathroom breaks don’t violate any rules (they can certainly be manipulated but again lots of people use that, not just Tsitsipas, and that can be addressed with rules.)
As for manning up, he did that. He played his matches without creating drama or making complaints. Whether he changes other behaviors next season I don’t know. People get into patterns of how they do things and it can be hard to break. A new coaching team would probably help some.
Well Tsitsi has done well on clay this year, winning the Monte Carlo Masters and obviously reaching the FO final. So maybe Roland Garros is actually his best chance of winning a slam.
Obviously clay is his best surface because of the bounce
This Alcaraz kid is really a treat to watch. He certainly reminded me of Rafa from the moment i saw him bcoz of his tenacity and doggedness!! And sure enough, later on I heard the commentators say that Rafa is his idol, lol!! For me, I hope he goes deep in the tourney and back up his win against Tsistipas. He is being coached by Ferrero so he may well be the real deal. I love his game, the depth of his shots, amazing! Rafa did not play with such aggression early in his career and I think that may have cost him, notwithstanding his success!! However, I will be supporting this kid moving forward but let this be known, NO ONE EVER could ever replace my Rafa, lol!! NO ONE!! Vamos, Alcaraz!!
Not get too carried away,theres been plenty of 18 year olds with huge games and huge potential that never lived up to it .Its interesting that he compares his game more to Federers than Nadals .
Med at USOpen two years ago, comes to mind. Also, Andy at RG coming on court to face Gasquet was greeted by massive booing. Andy just smirked…and won! At the end, of course, they were booing Gasquet.