It’s a battle of the Next Generation at Wimbledon on Wednesday, as top seed Carlos Alcaraz takes on the brash young Dane Holger Rune for a spot in the semifinals.
The top seeds have remained impressively intact at the All-England Club through the first week of play, with six of the top eight still in the mix. One of Wednesday’s premier matches will feature two of the brightest young stars on the ATP tour in Holger Rune and Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz, who is the current world No. 1, came into Wimbledon on the heels of his first ever grass-court title at Queen’s Club. The Spaniard wasn’t at his best during the first three rounds last week. He dropped a set in the third round to big-hitting Chilean Nicolas Jarry and generally looked out of sorts for the first half of the match.
Despite not playing his best earlier in the tournament, Alcaraz showed up when it mattered. He played fantastic grass-court tennis in the fourth round to dispatch a resurgent Matteo Berrettini. The Italian, who made the Wimbledon final in 2021, played his best tennis of the year at the All-England Club; Alcaraz was just better.
Like Alcaraz, Danish star Holger Rune has learned how to make his game work on all surfaces. The world No. 6 had zero grass-court wins prior to the 2023 season. He made the semifinals at Queen’s Club and now finds himself in the quarters of Wimbledon.
Rune won a pair of epic matches in the third and fourth rounds to earn his spot in the quarters. His five-set, third-round clash against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina might be the match of the tournament so far. He also outlasted an inspired Grigor Dimitrov in the round of 16.
Rune’s recent battles might well tip the scales in the favor of Alcaraz. The Dane has sometimes shown signs of fatigue in the later stages of big tournaments, and Alcaraz is playing well enough to take advantage.
Wednesday’s quarterfinal will hopefully mark the first full match ever between Alcaraz and Rune. They have met twice before, but the first was in the abbreviated format of the NextGen ATP Finals and in the second (at the Paris Masters) Alcaraz was forced to retire at 6-6 in the second set. This one should be a thriller.
Cheryl pick: Alcaraz in 5
Ricky pick: Alcaraz in 4
WWW?
Alcaraz in 4.
On a good day Rune can beat them all. But sure its hard to not go for Alcaraz right now on grass
Fuck off
Ok?
How fucken stupid and ignorant are you?
This Dalo dude has a big boat and no friends. You know why? Because he’san absolute cock and a selfish money hoarder thst only cares about himself. Has to be the centerbof attention like a fucken 2yr old.