Alcaraz and history... of course!
Eman Sadikovic (bloggeroftennis)
Student at Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo
When the Australian Open finished for Carlos Alcaraz, he got ill. There were some similarities with his condition to the situation at the ATP Finals in Turin three months ago. Back then, it was challenging to fight with the illness and the opponents. In Rotterdam last week, he was able to defeat two opponents for the most part of the tournament...
The 1st opponent was Botic van de Zandschulp, the same opponent who defeated Carlos in the 2nd round of the US Open last summer. Botic led 5-3 in the 1st set which he lost in the tie break. The Dutchman won the 2nd set but in the deciding set Alcaraz lost only one game.
Everyone was looking forward to seeing the match between Felix Auger-Aliassime, who won two ATP titles this year, and Alcaraz in the 2nd round. Instead, the Canadian was forced to retire due to toe injury against the Italian Vavassori. The match was perfect for Alcaraz at that moment – 6-2 6-1 win.
Just like a round before, tennis fans were excited to see another match between Rune and Alcaraz, but Holger lost in straight sets to Martinez. Holger later revealed he was ill as well. CTRL + C – that was the score in the quarterfinals – the same as it was against Vavassori.
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Hubert Hurkacz who in the previous three matches against Alcaraz would always find the way to make Alcaraz work hard for the victory, as was the case in the semifinal of Rotterdam as well. Hurkacz led 4-1 in the 1st set and had 0-40. Instead of winning the set, he lost five games in a row. Alcaraz had a chance to close the match in the 2nd set tie break, but in the 3rd set he didn't waste his chances.
In the final, Carlos faced de Minaur who lost a year before in the final to Sinner. For one set, Alex was able to make things exciting, but that was all. He won the 2nd set, but since then Carlos raised his level and won the 1st indoor title on hard court.
Compared to the Big 3 - Alcaraz is the youngest to win a title on grass, clay, hard court and hard court indoor. The Spaniard was 21 years and 9 months old, Federer a month older, his compatriot Nadal 22 years, while Djokovic did it at the age of 24 years and 1 month.