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Miami Conquered, Alcarazmania Has Begun
2 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
Carlos Alcaraz stole the show at the 2022 Miami Open with a devastating display of superhuman tennis which nexpectedly udazzled the tennis universe. The 18 year old phenom from Spain plowed through Martin Fucsovics, Marin Cilic, Miomir Kecmanovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hubi Hurkacz and finally Casper Ruud in the final 75 64.
The performances of the boy wonder provoked an array of rave reviews from the most esteemed tennis pundits. Jim Courier says Carlos will win one of the next four Grand Slams. Johan Kriek said Carlos will be a future no. 1 and he plays like a ten year ATP veteran. Andy Roddick said Carlos is an animal on the court.
Already at age 18 and still technically a junior, Alcaraz is a dominant force in the ATP. He is already ranked 11 in the world now and his match record for 2022 is 18-2. That progression by Alcaraz is ahead of the pace of Rafael Nadal at the same age.
One can only imagine what this tennis wrecking machine will be doing on tennis courts in two more years with more experience and explosiveness to assist his extraordinary arsenal.
Alcaraz is already a seemingly perfect tennis player on the surface, without any identifiable weaknesses. He has power on both wings, he moves like a young cat, he plays smart percentage tennis, he can attack the net and volley winners, his serve is a weapon and his mental and attitude aspects are as good as any great champion we have seen. No one is perfect and without warts but so far at this stage, nothing is evident or exploitable.
With Zverev, Tsitsipas, Rublev, Berrettini, Felix, Shapo, Medvedev, Sinner or Hurkacz unable to distinguish themselves as the next ATP “king”, it now appears the question of which “prince” will succeed the era of Federer, Rafa, Novak, has finally emerged.
And would it be a surprise if this dynamic marvel one day dominates the sport like Borg, Sampras, Federer, Djokovic?
ATP · Babolat · Carlos Alcaraz · Miami Open · Nike · Spain
MATT SEGEL · April 6, 2022 at 8:35 am
I remember the first time I saw Carlos on TV last year. I had read, of course that he had won the challengers at such a young age, so he had that buzz last year in the spring. I thought he would be just a very consistent player, because he was Spanish.
The first moment I saw him I literally said Whoa! The power on his strokes was unbelievable. But the serve. Well by the fall he was hitting 135 on the radar gun, and yeah, he is it.
But, as the question always is, how will his mental game hold up? It is so incredibly rare to be a mental all time great. That is what we won’t know for a while.
Scoop Malinowski · April 6, 2022 at 9:48 am
MATT, I see the mental strength of Carlos as his mightiest attribute. He’s rock wall stone solid mentally and with more confidence and experience it will grow even stronger. The interesting thing is Fed, Nadal and Rafa all had each other to overcome for each Grand Slam and of course all the others in the draw who were capable of getting red hot at any time. In a couple of years Carlos may have the whole ATP to himself, if no monster threats don’t arise to bother him. One can see Carlos reigning supreme for years and dominating – if players like Korda, Brooksby, Kecmanovic, Sinner, Fritz, Opelka, Paul, Ruud, Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Rublev, Cerundolos, etc don’t step up. The stage seems set for Alcaraz to dominate … but plays can go awry.