Carlos Alcaraz ends Medvedev’s streak, is crowned in Indian Wells and regains number one

The limit of Carlos Alcaraz is Carlos Alcaraz because he is a mixture of the three members of the ‘Big Three’. The Murcian, 50 days after ceding number one to Novak Djokovic, will return this Monday, March 20, to the top of men’s tennis.

Carlitos, the earliest tennis player to lead the charts, he is also the youngest player to win the Indian Wells and Miami titlesthe first two Masters 1000 on the calendar.

At 19 years and 318 daysJuan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil has prevailed in the Coachella Valley against the worst possible adversary. Daniil Medvedevwho had just chained 19 victories, knelt before a superior being, with a score of 6-3 and 6-2, in 70 minutes. Only Boris Becker had been crowned younger in the 1987 edition.

His streak is already history, as is the triumph of Alcaraz, who has become in the nineteenth tennis player capable of recovering the ATP scepter. Not being able to do so were such illustrious names as Ilie Nastase, John Newcombe, Mats Wilander, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Patrick Rafter, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray and the Spaniards Ferrero and Carlos Moyá.

From this Monday week 21 will begin above the others, tiebreaking with Mats Wilander. Nole’s record of 380 weeks is a long way off, but with the brilliant career of the young man from Murcia, you never know.

The first favorite won the first game of the final on serve and was already encouraged. Any small detail had its importance before the entity of the rival. And it is that the Russian remained undefeated since he yielded on January 20 with Sebastian Korda in the third round of the Australian Open. Among his victims was Djokovic, in the semifinals in Dubai.

The figure of the Murcian put so much pressure from the rest that after seven minutes he had already achieved a ‘break’. Along the way, Medvedev had double-faulted. He felt inferior and he really was.

Carlitos took out his arsenal of winning shots: forehands, reverses, drop shots… After 10 minutes, the result was 3-0. In the stands of the Tennis Garden headquarters there was silence. A show of such magnitude deserved full attention.

The tournament had, one more day, another technical problem. The audio that marks when a ball goes out was not working. Everything remained in the voice of Mohamed Lahyani. The Muscovite suffered to release his locker. Only when the first serve came in did he breathe calmly.

The Spanish took him to the limit at each point. The giant Daniil was staggering. Ferrero continued to lecture his disciple masterfully from the band.

of his wise advice the second break was born, which gave him the advantage in the second set after scoring the first. A third ‘break’ would come before some fans who did not hide their sympathies for the winner.

Alcaraz follows in the footsteps of Rafael Nadal and is the second tennis player under 20 years old capable of conquering three Masters 1000 category events. Rafa reached six before changing digits.

The tennis player from El Palmar He is faithful to his maxim that the finals are not to be played but to be won. That way of understanding the competition will be transferred to Miami next week, where he defends the trophy. This Monday you will know your way. The ‘Armada’ has tasted the sweetness of victory in two tournaments in 2023. Both are from Carlitos, who has a total of eight.