Roland-Garros 2022 – When Carlos Alcaraz already impressed at the Petits As tournament, aged 13

His face is easily recognizable. Has he ever felt more proud? Not sure: to see him on the podium with the Spanish flag in hand, he seems swollen with pride. He is only 13 years old but, already, Carlos Alcaraz is promised to great things. Here he is again selected by the Spanish delegation to represent his country at the famous Petits As tournament, an unofficial world championship for pre-teens (12 to 14 years old) which has seen all the current champions parade before their takeover of world power.

“I had already heard rumors about him, a lot of people were talking about himconfirms Alexandre de Villepin, a young Frenchman who took part in the 2017 edition. Not necessarily as a future big star, but rather as a very solid player and potential winner of the tournament“. Lack of luck for him, the Frenchman hits the jackpot at the start, with a first round against Alcaraz: “At the time of the draw, I was with people from the federation and everyone said ‘it’s not a good draw at all’ and that it was going to be very complicated“.

“If he could have put me 6-0, 6-0…”

Still, Alcaraz still seems kept out of media discussions. In Tarbes more than elsewhere, you have to know how to unearth THE nugget. And these 2003-2004-2005 generations are full of enticing promises. “In this 2017 tournament we had other media phenomena or future giants announcedrecalls the tournament director. That year we had Leo Borg, Borg’s son. We also had a 12-year-old phenomenon, César Bouchelaghem. I recognize that, for the moment, we do not talk too much about these two. And we also had European number one, Holger Rune, who is now starting to break through at the top level. And among the girls there was Cori Gauff“.

But even in this busy landscape, Alcaraz already functions differently from other kids his age. Around him, everything is programmed for his explosion at the highest level. “What struck me, outside the match, was that he really had his own ‘team’, he was in his bubbleremembers Alexandre de Villepin. We could see that he already had his routines during tournaments, his routines during training. I had met him two or three times before the match on the site, he was systematically with his coach, always focused, he watched the matches, the opponents, he very rarely hung out with the other players“.

So comes this long-awaited first round. Alexandre de Villepin discovers this kind of tournament while the Spaniard has already come last year (eliminated in the round of 16). We experienced a calmer baptism of fire. “What jumped out at me was the weight of his bullethe recalls. From the first shots, I felt it. I had never faced players with such weight in the ball“. In the end, there won’t be any matches (6-0, 6-2). Alcaraz is already too strong, already too far ahead.

“Directly I felt that he knew where he wanted to go, he wanted to win and he never turned away from his goalsays the Frenchman. If he had to put me 6-0 and 6-0 to win the match, he was going to put me 6-0 and 6-0. We felt that he had no moment of respite, of relaxation. I had the feeling that he had control over me and the game. He was already ruthless at 13“.

A game already asserted, weapons already lethal

All the germs of the monster were already there in Tarbes. Looking at the summary of his victory against De Villepin, one thing is obvious: his lethal weapons already seemed well in place. “Totally the same playerconfirms De Villepin. In forehand and backhand, he was already super solid at the time. The only aspect that has changed in his game is the serve. But he already had that outside kick that worked well in the tournament. I remember talking about it with other opponents and everyone found it very difficult to return“.

At Les Petits As 2017, however, Alcaraz fell in the round of 16, beaten by the American Toby Kodat… today 707th in the world. Fates are sometimes cruel. After a few Futures, Alexandre de Villepin gave up the idea of ​​a career at the highest level, but not the love of tennis. It is with an impressed but not surprised eye that he judges the crazy rise of the Spanish prodigy.

“In hindsight…”

“Seeing him climb so high so quickly, it doesn’t necessarily shock me given the qualities he hadhe explains. Among the players of our generation, we still talk about it today. We still say to ourselves that we played him while he is now beating Djoko and Nadal in the same tournament. That’s crazy“

Crazy as the rise to power of the Spanish kid, attests to the anecdote of the Frenchman: “At Les Petits As, I was 14 years old. Two years later, I was training at the Yvelines committee with Victoire Ouvrard, a -15 player who played Challengers. He had seen him at a Challenger tournament in Spain, he had spoken to me about Alcaraz, without knowing that I had played him, telling me ‘you have to look at him, he’s a monster, he’s your age , he only puts in a Challenger and he is just impressive. It had marked me because, already at 16, he had passed in two years which was enormous“.

“With hindsight, we say to ourselves that it is a logical continuation of thingshe concludes. Already at our age, given the seriousness he had and the enthusiasm that was already around him… When I saw him play, I didn’t say to myself ‘he’s going to break through’ but I knew he was going to become very good at tennis, 100%“. Very strong but terribly human. After his heavy defeat, the Frenchman had been comforted by his opponent, who had come to whisper a few nice words in his ear and complimented him on his game. Humility was also already there. The mark of big, it seems…

(Photo credit of One: LES PETITS AS / C Jarno)