The Top 10 matches of 2022 (2nd part): Carlos Alcaraz omnipresent, including in first place

5. Nick Kyrgios – Stefanos Tsitsipas

Tournament: Wimbledon
Tour: 3rd tour
Winner: Nick Kyrgios
Score : 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7)

A height of play… and tension. In previous seasons, Nick Kyrgios had distinguished himself above all by his escapades, to the point of becoming almost a caricature of himself. But in 2022, he gave meaning to his career and recalled that he was also an extraordinary tennis player. While he had lost 12 of his last 13 duels against Top 10 Grand Slams, he reclaimed the long format in the most beautiful way.

During this tennis feast, the Australian and the Greek hit 118 winners (61 to 57), and this in moments when so many others would have been feverish. What about, for example, the last three points gleaned by Kyrgios in a game as electric as it is splendid? A sequence of backhand half-volley and winning drop volley first to start. Then a supernatural angle found in a forehand cross to conclude on the backhand on the other side. And finally a deliciously masked cushioning as a match point. It deserved a roar of rage and delight.

Before that, the spectators of Court 1 had been more than spoiled. Although slightly dominated, Tsitsipas had won the first set tie-break. Still a victim of his nerves, Kyrgios then turned the situation around in a few minutes, saving a break point at 4-4 in the second set thanks to an ace at the T… on the second ball at first. Before perfectly anticipating the opponent’s smash to win the sleeve while relaxing.

The match then changes dimension. Driven mad by the scenario and the volubility of Kyrgios, Tsitsipas swings a totally uncontrolled backhand in the lower stand. A dangerous gesture of which his rival complains to the referee Damien Dumusois. “How can you send a ball at this speed into the stands and not be disqualified? If no one is hurt, then everything is fine?“, said Kyrgios in particular to the referee. And the tension has not finished climbing… Broken at the start of the 3rd set, Tsitsipas still forgets himself on a return of service with the spoon. Then, he aims at two times the Aussie at the net.

Hue, the Greek escapes disqualification. And he manages to stay in his game until the end. The handshake will be as fresh as the spicy press conferences between the two men. An addictive explosive cocktail and a major turning point in the season (and maybe the career who knows?) of Kyrgios.

4. Alexander Zverev – Carlos Alcaraz

Tournament: Roland-Garros
Round: Quarter-final
Winner: Alexander Zverev
Score : 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6

Of course, this Roland-Garros 2022 was marked by Rafael Nadal’s 14th Parisian coronation. Along the way, the Spaniard tamed his eternal rival Novak Djokovic in a quarterfinal in the form of a before the letter. But despite its intensity, or that of the shortened half against Alexander Zverev mentioned here yesterday, the best game of the fortnight did not involve the Mallorcan champion. No, to find it, you have to look to another quarter-final played a few hours earlier, the one between the new scarecrow Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev.

Excellent for two and a half sets, this meeting then reached new heights to become frankly formidable in its final part. The fourth set is perhaps even the most beautiful of this entire Grand Slam season, culminating in a Dantesque decisive game. Even though Alcaraz does not yet have the historic makings of a member of the ‘Big 3’, this is perhaps the most significant Grand Slam victory of Zverev’s career.

The emergence of the young Spaniard has taken a toll on the old NextGen but that day, the great Sascha wanted to send a message: no, at 25, he is not a has-been. The “hype” around Carlos Alcaraz is however colossal before this Roland-Garros, in particular since the two Masters 1000 won by the pupil of Juan Carlos Ferrero in Indian Wells and, above all, Madrid, where he enquired two successes against Nadal and Djokovic before rolling … Zverev in the final.

But during this quarter-final on the Chatrier, the boss is the great Hamburg jig. Frankly dominating and authoritarian for two and a half sets, Zverev is very close to winning in three sets. He will finally have to whip until the end of a suffocating 4th set to validate his ticket for the semi-finals. Good for us, and even for him, because this scenario has further magnified his performance. Who could have imagined then that this would be his very last victory of the year 2022? But she was beautiful…

3. Carlos Alcaraz – Novak Djokovic

Tournament: Madrid
Round: Semi-final
Winner: Carlos Alcaraz
Score : 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-6(5)

We already knew it was phenomenal, but perhaps we did not suspect how much before this week in Madrid. Two days after blowing out his 19th birthday, Carlos Alcaraz accomplished an unprecedented feat: beating Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the same clay-court tournament, moreover consecutively. In the quarter against his glorious Spanish elder, the performance was already resounding (6-2, 1-6, 6-3), a year after having received a lesson in this same Caja Magica. But what about this semi-final…

Two statistics give an idea of ​​the extent of the battle won by “Carlitos”: 51 winning shots struck (at 24) in 3h35 in a game as memorable from a tennis perspective as it was gripping by its suspense. From a winning short crossed backhand passing after a few banderillas in the forehand, the Murcian had announced the color of an entry break. But with his experience as an exceptional champion, the world number 1 (at the time) seemed to have stemmed the wave.

Returning to the height, Djokovic thus won 21 consecutive points in service, “air-conditioning” in the tie-break – to use a fashionable term – an incandescent Spanish public during this breathless first set. Bluffing but brought down to earth, Alcaraz missed his chance… At least, we are entitled to think so. His opponent also has the opportunity to seal the deal, especially at 5-5 in the second act. But on the nerve, “Carlitos” saves a break point from a sublime cushioning, before resetting the counters to zero with an unexpected break. From a frantic race, he slips a winning throw-in along the line on an opposing counter-damping and causes a new eruption of happiness in the stands.

The “Si se puede, si se puede” (“yes, it’s possible”, in French) flow in during a final act no less dantesque. Always so leaping, explosive and surprising in his amortizations, Alcaraz leads the dance without managing to convert his 6 break opportunities. Djokovic, this cold-blooded predator never as dangerous as when he thus enters into resistance, will he still cool everyone in the decisive game? This time not, because “Carlitos” remains true to itself: audacity, more audacity, always audacity. His destiny, confirmed the following summer in New York, is in motion.

2. Rafael Nadal – Daniil Medvedev

Tournament: Australian Open
Round: Final
Winner: Rafael Nadal
Score : 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5

Rarely has a match defined two trajectories so early in a season. And this in a way that is unexpected to say the least. Seeing Rafael Nadal win a Grand Slam title is certainly nothing surprising on paper. But the context of this final in Melbourne as well as the turn of events made it a match apart, and very significant for its two protagonists. Struggling for months with a painful left foot, the Majorcan revived spectacularly for the umpteenth time, while Daniil Medvedev, who seemed ready to become the boss, fell into line.

A few months before, at the US Open 2021, the Russian had thus opened his record in Major, putting a dry end to Novak Djokovic’s calendar Grand Slam dream. So when he found himself two sets to nothing, leading 3-2, 0/40 on the Majorcan’s serve, nothing seemed to be able to happen to him. There was perhaps only one person left to really believe in Nadal’s chances in this most precarious position. But fortunately for the person concerned, it was about himself. The ultimate fighter.

Earlier in this Top 10, we described the quarter-final won against Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon as a summary of the career of the “Bull of Manacor”. This knife duel at the antipodes showed another facet. Because beyond Nadal’s well-known ability to never let go, it was his ability to adapt that saved him. Before regaining the upper hand physically at the end of the game, the Spaniard had gradually instilled doubt in the mind of his rival on the tactical level. First dominated in the long sector, he opted for changes of pace to destabilize Medvedev.

Backhand slices, play in the replacement to break the pace that the Russian loves so much and a few serve-volleys to sprinkle everything: Nadal has thus gradually regained the initiative. Patiently, he rebuilt his mental ascendancy to win after 5h24 of struggle, the second longest final ten years after the one which had already pitted him against Novak Djokovic. The key to a record 21st Grand Slam title which certainly gave him the confidence to go for the 22nd at Roland-Garros, despite a capricious body. And yet another rebound with a taste of eternity.

1. Carlos Alcaraz – Jannik Sinner

Tournoi : US Open
Round: Quarter-final
Winner: Carlos Alcaraz
Score : 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3

A crazy night, seen from here and there since it was almost 3 a.m. when Carlos Alcaraz ended up overcoming Jannik Sinner in what is therefore, for us, THE match of this ATP 2022 season , which also became the latest in US Open history. 5h15 of a fight almost devoid of the slightest downtime where the two young champions (40 years between them…) delivered a rather dizzying spectacle with a completely crazy speed of play. “It was completely insane“, will summarize Alcaraz, without being able to contradict him.

Over more than five hours, there were so many twists and turns that the loser could only harbor deep regrets. Jannik Sinner is therefore this one and it is an understatement to say that the Italian came very close to victory. A point. After leading two sets to one and 5-3 in the 4th act, he benefited from a match point on his service in the following game, at 5-4. It’s a defeat to leave you with a six-month hangover, but also great hopes for the future, because Sinner has displayed all the qualities of a future great.

He too was magnificent with his “grinta” and self-sacrifice, in particular to save five balls from two sets to nothing against him at 6-5 in favor of Carlos Alcaraz, who was then dominating. It was in this same game that the young Spaniard had scored the point of the match, of the tournament itself, with a passing shot played behind the back, followed by another, more classic but decisive. Great art, but this is only one example among many of the very high quality of the debates.

Given the time and the length of this quarter-final, we wouldn’t go so far as to say that we would have taken it back for two or three hours, but it is still prodigious not to be bored one second in 315 minutes. Tennis is in good hands with such specimens. Alcaraz-Sinners of this kind, we are ready to take for fifteen years. Whatever happens, this one is already part of the monuments.