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| Photo Credit: AP. |
NEW YORK (AP) — Walking out for his first Grand Slam final at age 19, Carlos Alcaraz bumped fists with fans leaning over a railing along the path leading to the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Moments later, after the coin toss, Alcaraz turned to sprint to the baseline for the warmup, until being beckoned back to the net by the chair umpire for the customary pre-match photos.
Alcaraz is
imbued with boundless enthusiasm and energy, not to mention skill, speed,
stamina and sangfroid. And now he’s a U.S. Open champion and the No. 1 player
in men’s tennis.
Using his uncommon
combination of moxie and maturity, Alcaraz beat Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1),
6-3 on Sunday to both earn the trophy at Flushing Meadows and become the
youngest man to lead the ATP rankings.
“Everything
came so fast. For me it’s unbelievable. It’s something I dreamed since I was a
kid, since I started playing tennis,” said Alcaraz, whom folks of a certain age
might still consider a kid.
“Of course,”
he said, “I’m hungry for more.”
Alcaraz, who
will move up three ranking spots from No. 4 on Monday, already has attracted
plenty of attention as someone considered the Next Big Thing in a sport
dominated for decades by the Big Three of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and
Roger Federer.
“He’s one of
these few rare talents that comes up every now and then in sports. That’s what
it seems like,” said Ruud, a 23-year-old from Norway. “Let’s see how his career
develops, but it’s going all in the right direction.”
The Spaniard
was serenaded by choruses of “Olé, Olé, Olé! Carlos!” that reverberated off the
arena’s closed roof — and Alcaraz often motioned for the spectators to get
louder. There were a couple of magical points that drew standing ovations,
including one Alcaraz lost with a laser of an on-the-run forehand while ending
up face-down on his belly.
He only
briefly showed signs of fatigue from having to get through three consecutive
five-setters in the three rounds right before the final; no one had gone
through that arduous a route on the way to the title in New York in 30 years.
Alcaraz went
five sets against 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic in the fourth round,
ending at 2:23 a.m. Tuesday; against Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals, a
5-hour, 15-minute thriller that ended at 2:50 a.m. Friday after Alcaraz needed
to save a match point; and against Frances Tiafoe in the semifinals.
“It’s not time
to be tired,” Alcaraz said.
This was not
a stroll to the finish. He faced a pair of set points while down 6-5 in the
third. Could have been an outcome-altering moment.
But Alcaraz
erased each of those point-from-the-set opportunities for Ruud with the sorts
of quick-reflex, soft-hand volleys he repeatedly displayed.
“He just
played too good on those points. We’ve seen it many times before: He steps up
when he needs to,” Ruud said. “When it’s close, he pulls out great shots.”
One break in
the fourth was all it took for Alcaraz to seal the victory in the only Grand
Slam final between two players seeking both a first major championship and the
top spot in the ATP’s computerized rankings, which date to 1973.
The winner
was guaranteed to be first in Monday’s rankings; the loser was guaranteed to be
second.
“We knew
what was at stake,” said Ruud, who entered the U.S. Open ranked No. 7. “I’m
disappointed, of course, that I’m not No. 1, but No. 2 is not too bad, either.”
He also was
the runner-up to Nadal at the French Open in June.
If nothing
else, Ruud gets the sportsmanship award for conceding a point he knew he didn’t
deserve. It came at 4-3 in the first set, when he raced to a short ball that
bounced twice before his racket touched it. Play continued, and Alcaraz
hesitated, then flubbed his response. Ruud told the chair umpire what had
happened, giving the point to Alcaraz, who responded with a thumbs-up.
Alcaraz
certainly seems to be a rare talent, possessing an all-court game, a blend of
groundstroke power with a willingness to push forward. He won 34 of the 45 points
that he finished at the net.
He is
increasingly a threat while serving — he delivered 14 aces at up to 128 mph —
and returning, earning 11 break points, converting three.
And, as Ruud
noted, Alcaraz showed “incredible fighting spirit and will to win.”
Make no
mistake: Ruud is no slouch. There’s a reason he is the youngest man since Nadal
to get to two major finals in one season.
But this was
Alcaraz’s time to shine under the lights.
Some
perspective: He is the first teenager to win the U.S. Open since Pete Sampras
in 1990, the first to triumph at any Slam since Nadal at the 2005 French Open.
Another way
to understand how precocious Alacaraz is: The last man to win this tournament
by his second appearance was Pancho Gonzalez in 1948, before pros were allowed
into the field.
For context
on the rankings, it is helpful to know that Novak Djokovic did not play at the
U.S. Open or Australian Open this year, unable to enter those countries because
is not vaccinated against COVID-19, and did not receive any ranking boost for
his Wimbledon championship because no points were on offer for anyone after the
All England Club banned athletes from Russia and Belarus over the invasion of
Ukraine.
Regardless
of the circumstances, it is significant that Alcaraz is the first male teenager
at No. 1.
No one else
did it. Not Nadal, not Djokovic, not Federer, not Sampras or anyone else.
When one
last service winner glanced off Ruud’s frame Sunday, Alcaraz dropped to his
back on the court, then rolled over onto his stomach, covering his face with
his hands.
He went into
the stands for hugs with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former No. 1 himself
who won the French Open in 2003 and reached the final of that year’s U.S. Open,
and others, crying all the while.
“He was born
to play this kind of tournament, born to play these kind of matches,” said
Ferrero, who has worked with Alcaraz for three years. “Since the moment that I
started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at
his age.”
You only get
to No. 1 for the first time once.
You only win
a first Grand Slam title once.
Many folks
expect Alcaraz to be celebrating these sorts of feats for years to come.
“I want to
be (at) the top for many, many weeks — I hope many years,” he said. “I’m going
to work hard again after this week, these amazing two weeks. I’m going to fight
(to) have more of this.”
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