Alcaraz, a 21-year-old expert who already masters the tempo of the major tournaments

Carlos Alcaraz, that’s him, he’s in a hurry. So he pushes. Make way! “At the beginning of the match I wasn’t thinking about Spain, but as soon as I felt I was dominating, with 5-1 in the fourth set, I did think about it, and I did everything in a hurry to be able to watch the match…”, he tells journalists, laughing, having qualified for the Wimbledon semi-finals again.—Daniil Medvedev will be there on Friday, just like a year ago— after the hard-fought victory against Tommy Paul, always demanding. The American stole the first set from him and did not let up until the last, thinking, perhaps, that the Spaniard could stumble on one of those temporary slumps that he hits from time to time. However, the outcome is the same as against Lajal, Vukic, Tiafoe and Humbert: in reality, the duel is on the racket of the Murcian. It usually is like that. They usually pass through there. He is dominant.

“We are trying to find solutions. It will be difficult to play at my best every game, because there will be some where I won’t be able to find it, but I have to win. The players of the Big Three [Federer, Nadal y Djokovic] They are like that because they found enough tennis to win on the days when they weren’t doing better, so I have to find solutions to be a little bit better.“It’s difficult sometimes, I haven’t played brilliantly but I’ve played well enough to win,” he says in the conference room, coinciding with France’s goal in Munich. He says that a few hours earlier he had spoken to Álvaro Morata, because the striker finds it lucky to talk to him, but he doesn’t want to know the result. “Don’t tell me anything,” he replies to a French reporter, and he goes into more detail about that:“Yes, I will say that most of the matches depend on me, and I think that is quite good. If I find my game and the way to dominate, both good and bad will depend on me.”

Despite his youth, he has already reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for the sixth time, thus equalling the number of times achieved by his trainer, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and David Ferrer throughout their careers. Alcaraz wants to transcend and be among the best in history in the future, and to do so, he needs to control the timing is a basic element. Knowing how to approach the debut; when to slow down and when to speed up; how to resolve the days without forcing too much or falling short; what each phase of the tournament demands. He has already entered the sweet zone and, he responds, he is proud of his reliability. Since he was crowned in New York two years ago – when he raised his first major and became the youngest world number one of all time—has reached the penultimate round at every event except this year’s Australian Open, when he was knocked out in the quarterfinals by German Alexander Zverev.

It is, therefore, already a clock. A guarantee of continuity. “We are on the right path, on the right path,” he says. “Obviously we want more, we are hungrier and we want to reach the final, but that figure [las seis semifinales alcanzadas] “It’s a good statistic; it’s a statistic that also weighs on my rivals a bit and that means that I’m playing at a good level and that they have to do great things to beat me. I’m happy to know that it’s there, but we want more. We want to have the statistic of finals,” continues the world number three, defending champion and scheduled on this occasion, against Paul, on Court 1, instead of the central one. He doesn’t seem to care too much. He does whatever they throw at him and wherever it’s needed.

Legs and shots

“In the end, I think Jannik [Sinner] “I had only played one match on Centre Court, and he deserved to play there too; he is number one and he was playing against Medvedev, so it was a great match,” he says, downplaying the decision of the organisers. However, the ground on Court 1 looks more deteriorated than on the main court and the manoeuvres are more complicated. “You can see how worn out the grass is, there is a lot more dirt,” he says. “So when the ball bounces there it does so in a different way. It took me a bit to find the way to move correctly, but in the end we got into a good rhythm,” adds the player from El Palmar. Paul does not think the same, nor does his next opponent, Medvedev.

In the American’s opinion, there is no player who moves as well as the Spaniard. “It’s incredible how he does it.” He adds: “He’s the fastest of all.” The Russian, who he has faced six times in total (4-2), twice at the All England Club (1-1) and once this season, in the Indian Wells final that was Alcaraz’s first Californian success, added to the praise. “What’s most special about him? To be honest, everything. I guess the ease with which he constructs the shots. As soon as he has it ready, from wherever, he goes for it and hits it. He’s on fire. That’s why it’s so hard to play against him, because you know he can hit a winner from any point on the court and from any position. There aren’t many players who can do that,” says the Moscow native.

Aware of his abilities, he continues to reinforce the idea that whoever is on the other side of the net feels like he is tackling an impossible challenge. Winner this year at Indian Wells and then at Roland Garros, he continues to collect victories on grass – 12 in succession and 16 since his first time in London (2021) – and highlights Medvedev’s consistency. “I’m happy that my rival thinks I can do all that. From attack or defense I am capable of coming back, or of throwing an incredible shot that will be a winner. But he also has something very special: he is like a wall, you know that no matter how much you hit, the ball will come back,” describes Alcaraz. And this Tuesday the number one, Sinner, paid for it, exhausted and attended to by the doctor.

“I didn’t throw up, but I was feeling very dizzy. I didn’t feel very well in the morning. But all credit to Daniil, he plays very intelligently and likes long rallies,” the Italian stressed, referring to the Russian’s danger at long distances. Alcaraz is not bad at it: over nine strokes – the scale used to define the longest rallies – he has prevailed in 23 of the 38 matches played in the semi-finals. Here is a young expert.

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