It's meant as a praise of appreciable proportions. In fact it's. It isn’t everybody who's anointed with the label of being, “the subsequent Rafa Nadal.”
That's the tag that has been held on Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spaniard who entered the U.S. Open because the fourth-ranked males’s participant on the earth. He's doing his greatest to neither bask within the mirrored glow of his countryman nor permit the comparability to an immortal develop into a choke collar the way in which it so typically can in professional sports activities.
“I might say it’s a little bit of strain however I strive not to consider it,” Alcaraz mentioned following Tuesday’s 7-5, 7-5, 2-0 (ret) first-round victory over Sebastien Baez inside Arthur Ashe Stadium. “I don’t contemplate myself not, ‘The following.’ ”
But when issues break accurately for the teenager competing on this diluted draw that's lacking injured second-ranked Alexander Zverev and sixth-ranked Novak Djokovic — and from which Stefanos Tsitsipas was eradicated in a stunning upset on Monday whereas dropping the primary 11 video games of the match — Alcaraz certainly might emerge as the subsequent U.S. Open champion.
If he might get by the unique Nadal in a projected semifinal matchup, that's. No strain.
“I feel I’m No. 4 proper now, so I form of play within the second, not as the subsequent participant or the subsequent era,” mentioned Alcaraz. “I’m simply attempting to do my greatest preventing towards the perfect gamers in the perfect tournaments.”
Each opponents within the day’s opening match had been underneath duress from the weather within the warmth and humidity in Queens. No roof for the stricken. No shade for the athletes.
“I’m actually completely happy to get by with the situations. It was a extremely robust match with a horrible finish,” mentioned Alcaraz, who made 47 unforced errors versus smacking 32 winners towards his 21-year-old foe, who couldn't make it to the end line. “The warmth was actually robust and the humidity was actually dangerous.“It was very robust. The situations shocked me. However it's a must to deal with the second and be capable to [make decisions] on easy methods to play the factors. Like I say, it was actually, actually robust..”
Alcaraz does appear on the cusp of greatness after changing into the youngest participant to win an ATP 500 event in Rio and the youngest to win a Masters 1000 occasion in Miami. He additionally added a championship in Madrid.
He's a younger man in a rush who will face one other Argentinian, 78th-ranked Federico Coria in Spherical 2, however in not an excessive amount of of a rush to odor the roses. By the way in which, the rose is the official flower of New York State. You’re in all probability not going to get that form of data on the ESPN telecast from Darren Cahill.
“I’m simply attempting to get pleasure from these moments in the perfect stadiums,” Alcaraz mentioned. “I simply get pleasure from.”
This has been an odd Grand Slam season on the lads’s aspect. Nadal, Djokovic and Open defending champion Daniil Medvedev all entered solely at Roland Garros. Nadal gained the French Open for his twenty second profession main, leapfrogging Djokovic, whom he defeated within the quarterfinals.
Djokovic was barred entry to the Australian Open and to the U.S. for this event due to his standing as unvaccinated. Medvedev was not permitted to play at Wimbledon, when the event barred gamers from Russia and Belarus as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
So there’s form of a vacuum on the high, form of a void following the Large Three Period though Nadal — who has been restricted since withdrawing from Wimbledon with an stomach difficulty following his quarterfinal defeat of Taylor Fritz — and Djokovic can be thought of favorites any time they enter an occasion.
There gave the impression to be room on the high for Fritz, the 24-year-old southern Californian who entered the Open because the highest-seeded American. However the tenth seed flamed out spectacularly Monday on the grandstand court docket in dropping a four-setter to qualifier Brandon Holt, who carries one other tag. That may be, “Tracy Austin’s son.” There’s a wonderful coming when you fail so as to add that modifier.
“It feels terrible,” Fritz mentioned after the match. “I really feel like an fool considering I might win this factor, win the U.S. Open. I can’t exit in a match like that. It’s terrible.”
It's most actually not idiotic to imagine that Alcaraz might win this occasion. It’s nonetheless considerably of a protracted shot, however hardly a fantasy. And if he does, he'll accomplish that as the primary Carlos Alcaraz, not the subsequent Rafa Nadal.
For it is a younger man who's making a reputation for himself.
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