Short and intense, the last point of Carlos Alcaraz’s triumph over Rafael Nadal lasted 15 seconds, The 19-year-old boy beat his 36-year-old idol in a movie finale. In an action that made all of Madrid rise. He served, went to the net after two drive shots, returned to the bottom and, when Rafa cornered him, he ended up putting the ball to the crack. Applause….
The video of the last point
The kid who had turned 19 on Thursday and who all his life watched Rafael Nadal’s clay game in amazement couldn’t believe it. With that point, Alcaraz had beaten Nadal 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Madrid. In this first victory against his idol, he ended up becoming the youngest tennis player to reach the semis in this tournament.
The image of happiness of Carlos Alcaraz after beating Nadal (REUTERS / Juan Medina).
“What happened?”, wrote the one from Murcia with a fibrón in the television camera. What was asked had answers. He had made 37 winners, and four breaks of five, and crack points like the one that closed the match after two hours and 29 minutes. He resisted a comeback of his own from Nadal in the second set and a hard fall to brick dust -which seemed to have left his ankle touched-, but his desire and his tennis could more that the pains and the push of Rafa.
“It means a lot to me,” Alcaraz said with pure emotion. “All the hard work I do every day pays off today. Beat Rafa, beat the best player in history on clay, It means a lot to me,” he continued.
It was the third time he faced Nadal. Rafa had already beaten him once in Madrid and the other in Indian Wells at the beginning of this 2022. Which confirms that the 19-year-old kid is already much more than a promise. In fact, adds 26 victories in the season. For Rafa it was his second fall in the year.
The embrace of Carlos Alcaraz with Rafa Nadal (EFE/Juanjo Martín).
Now number 9 in the ranking will have to face Novak Djokovic this Saturday, who reached his seventh semi in Madrid after beating Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-3, 6-4. “I don’t care who’s on the other side of the net,” said the Serb. days. Currently I am concentrating exclusively on myself.”
