Chands of fate, the day that Alejandro Valverde gave his last pedal strokes in a Vuelta a España, the Murcians awaited the consecration of their new idol. Across the Atlantic Carlos Alcaraz was about to win his first Grand Slam final to become number 1 in world tennis and in El Palmar there was a special illusion.
The balconies are decorated with flags that say messages of encouragement for Alcaraz. It is well-born to be grateful: “The town has a lot to thank him and his whole family because they are all extraordinary”, assures Antonio, Carlos’s neighbor since he was born. “Carlitos pointed out ways from well little guy. He has something different and is there on his own merits, no one has given him anything.”
The first blows of Alcaraz
The vertiginous growth of Carlitos is not understood without the El Palmar Country Club. His father was the Sports Director and there he took a little Carlos who, at only five years old, was already entertaining himself by hitting balls on the courts, or against the walls. In the place where it all began, he quotes us Kiko Navarro, his coach until a couple of years ago. “Since he was little, it was clear that he had a special talent and that tennis was his sport. I knew that he was going to be a top player. At 14 or 15 years old, you could already see that he had something very special.”
Kiko and Carlos send messages regularly. For his former coach it is “very exciting” to see how quickly he has come to fulfill his dream: “We have worked all our lives to make it number one in the world”. He acknowledges that they have had their “little upsets” because “he had his moments of rebellion”, but he assures that “he is a very normal boy, very humble and very homey”.
Prophet in his land
“Carlos has put us on the world map. He has done with El Palmar the same as Rafa Nadal with Manacor“. One sentence is more than enough to understand the evident affection that the neighbors have for Carlos. The Murcia City Council installed a giant screen just behind the institute that saw him grow up and they gathered there thousands of people of all ages to cheer on their countryman. The children, who wanted to go to bed late despite having school, stayed up all night. And the elderly, who are not late nights, made an effort.
Magical, a genius, a champion, a pride… These are some of the words we hear when we ask their friends how they would describe Alcaraz. The mayor of Murcia, Jose Antonio Serranois a little more explicit: “A boy who likes to play sports, who works hard and It is an icon to follow for boys and girls because it shows that working with tenacity and with a head you can reach very high levels”.
The cover of MARCA triumphs in El Palmar
an explosion of happiness
The minutes before the match were enlivened by Dj Yiyo but with the music the relaxation went away and the nerves took over the residents of El Palmar. Flags, banners, an attempt at hype and dozens of standards. Anything was good to cheer up his countryman.
Smiles in the first set, desperation in the second, high tension in the third and relief in the fourth. That was the chronology of the feelings of the palmareos in the little less than four hours of game. An end to the party where the applause silenced the powerful loudspeaker, we saw more than one tear and we perceived the pride of El Palmar for its most illustrious neighbor.
