It has been twenty weeks as number 1, since he won his first Grand Slam, the US Open in 2022. A weight stay for the first time. Because there will be many more to Carlos Alcaraz (19 years old), who on Monday will see his position filled by Stefanos Tsitsipas o Novak Djokovicfaced Greek and Serbian this Sunday for the Australian Open title and for the throne of the ATP.
Alcaraz, who is suffering these days from having to watch the Melbourne tournament on TV, already has his body ready to compete again. The injury for which he had to give up the first Grand Slam of the year -a tear in the semimembranosus muscle of his right leg- is over, and he has been training hard at the Academy for a few days, with his sights set on the ATP 250 of Argentina starting on February 11. It will be his return after the end of the year and the beginning of the next eventful one, absent from the Masters Cup, and from the Australian Grand Slam, so his motivation is twofold. Or triple. Because this is the course, in addition, that of consolidation, in which he will have to face being one of the top favorites in all the tournaments he participates in, and the pressure of trying to defend the ones he won in 2022.
And fight again for a number 1 that (9.30 am, Eurosport) tomorrow Djokovic and Tsitsipas will be debated. The Serbian was on fire after three sublime games in which he had hardly any opposition (Alex de Miñaur, 6-2, 6-1 and 6-2; Andrey Rublev, 6-1, 6-2 and 6-4, and Tommy Paul , 7-5, 6-1 and 6-2). In the semifinal he suffered a slump at the end of the first set, -21 unforced errors- that allowed the American to go from 1-5 to 5-5. However, the Serbian is hungrier than ever and straightened up immediately to control the first set to the rest and overwhelm in the other two.
He is playing his 33rd Grand Slam final, tied with Serena Williams and just one behind leader Chris Evert, in search of his tenth crown in Melbourne, which would mean his 22nd great title, to reach Rafa Nadal in the vantage point of the most big. “At this point in my career, every tournament is a golden opportunity to try to lift another trophy. I don’t know how many more opportunities I will have in the future. The Grand Slams and number 1 are the two pinnacles of professional tennis and they have always been challenges for me. I want to continue making history in this sport.”
Tsitsipas also wants to make history: his first Grand Slam, finally being crowned in Australia where he had lost in the semifinals in the three editions in which he arrived and a number 1 that makes him smile. “I like that number,” she commented after beating Karen Khachanov (7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6) and 6-3). And the revenge against the Serbian, who traced him back two sets in his only grand final: Roland Garros 2021.
