There are times when Carlos Alcaraz over hits the ball, and he could over react. But the Spaniard would keep on trucking, he would smash his forehand and his backhand, and he would sprint, at the net or back words.
In Miami, the 18-year-old won it all, beating Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-4. That was the first time he won a Masters 1000 title. Many people knew that he was coming, but soon, or later.
Well, there he is, and assuming he will be healthy for many years, he could not only win the ATP Masters — a lot— or at the Grand Slams, too.
There are just a few teenager who have won it early at the Slams like Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Michael Chang.
Alcaraz rarely gets tired, on court, and when there are thousands of people cheering for him, he would pump his fist. He really likes the emotion.
However, he could have lost, because in the beginning of the first set, Ruud was playing very well, pushing forward and confident. He broke him, and it was possible that the Norway was going to win the first set. But he could not do that, when his first serve began to falter, and he stayed way back behind the baseline. Alcaraz does the same thing too, returning, but he was more adjacent, while Ruud was hesitant.
Alcaraz broke it back, then he hit the high note, snagging the first set. After that, he rose even further, and he knew that if he was stable, then he would win the title.
The strong man sure did, winning Miami, knocking down three very good players against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hubert Hurkacz and Ruud.
It wasn’t just that, Alcaraz split with another terrific player, Matteo Berrettini, this year. In 2022, he has also beaten Diego Schwartzman, Roberto Bautista Agut, Gael Monfils, and Marin Cilic.
Since he lost against Berrettini at the Australian Open, he is now 16-1, with one loss, versus Nadal in a marathon at Indian Wells.
Now Alcaraz will go into the clay in Europe. Exactly one year ago, he was ranked No. 133. Now he is ranked No. 11. Talk about a huge jump.
“Every match I trying to put my game, hitting big forehands, hitting big shots, dropshots, trying to go to the net, trying to be aggressive all the time. I trying to improve my game,” Alcaraz said. “Just my idea in every tournament and in every match.”
Yes he did.