Alcaraz postulates as favorite for Roland Garros

«Carlos Alcaraz has just won the most important clay court title of his career… For now». The Roland Garros tournament launched this notice after the victory of the Spaniard against Alexander Zverev in the Madrid final. “He is the best right now,” acknowledged the German, completely overcome by the tennis of his rival and by the fatigue of having gone to sleep at five in the morning the day before due to the crazy schedules of the capital. «But it doesn’t matter, if he had been fresh surely he wouldn’t have beaten him either. He is the best », added Zverev, a two-time winner in Madrid.

With his fourth title of the season in his pocket, after Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Barcelona, ​​Alcaraz is just 70 points behind Rafael Nadal in the race to Turin, where the Masters Cup will be played for the second year. Only the impressive streak of the Spaniard, who won 20 games in a row at the beginning of the campaign, prevents Alcaraz from being considered the best in the rankings.

“For someone his age, it is impressive to play with this courage and this bravery. He is going to achieve very nice things in the future », Novak Djokovic, another of those who fell into the clutches of El Palmar this week, told him. “It is the relief, because he is 19 years old and I am 36,” Nadal added. “It only remains to be seen if it is from now on or in a few months,” he added.

Victories against Nadal and Djokovic already appear in Alcaraz’s belt and he only needs to add a Roger Federer to his list who has been out of the circuit for almost a year. Alcaraz was photographed with the Swiss in 2019, on the Wimbledon courts, now he awaits a return to the circuit so that the image is repeated in an official match.

His next goal is Roland Garros, for which there are two weeks to wait. The Masters 1,000 in Rome also appeared on his calendar, but the problem he suffered in the ankle against Nadal, a sprain that did not prevent him from continuing to compete, asks for a break. He resigns from Rome to better prepare for the assault on Paris, a tournament in which he is already the main candidate along with Nadal who will seek title number 14 in France.

clear horizon

“I see myself prepared to win a Grand Slam,” said the Murcian after the victory in Madrid. And it is not for less, since he does nothing more than break records of precocity. For now, in Paris he will have the opportunity to get into the top five in the world, being, at 19 years and one month, the seventh youngest in history to do so, only behind legends such as Michael Chang, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg , Andre Agassi, Mats Wilander and Rafael Nadal. On the horizon is also number one, a chimera a few months ago, now a possibility.

From here, until the US Open, Alcaraz barely defends 660 points, the biggest loot being that of Umag, where he won his first ATP title in July 2021. The third round of Roland Garros and the second of Wimbledon are the ceilings to break and that will allow Alcaraz to dream of climbing the rankings, which also benefits the fact that the current number one, Djokovic, defends the title in both Paris and London, and that the number two, Daniil Medvedev, has been injured for a month and will not return. the competition until the Geneva tournament, prior to Roland Garros.

At the moment, Alcaraz appears sixth in the ATP ranking, with 4,773 points, less than 1,000 behind the fifth place defended by the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. This week will be important for the interests of Nadal, champion in Rome last year and who defends 1,000 points, and for a Djokovic who made the final in the Italian capital last year and who will need to reach at least the semifinals to avoid losing number one of the world.

With his effectiveness in finals (6-0), without having lost a set in them, and being the first tennis player since David Nalbandian in Madrid 2007 to win a Masters 1,000 defeating three members of the top 4 along the way, Alcaraz only has arguments for it to be defined in one way: as the best in the world.