the south african Lloyd Harris he beat Rafa Nadal in the Washington tournament, who was limping on his left foot and ended up not playing that 2021 season. His good serve and forehand, the aggressiveness of tennis with a tendency to close quickly on the net, emerged on the circuit.
At 24 years old, he promised strong emotions, and he immediately certified them by standing in the quarterfinals of the US Open that 2021, leaving behind Karen Khachanov, Denis Shapovalov and Reilly Opelkauntil hitting a firm Alexander Zverev.
It was world number 31, nothing to do with its current position of 177. If he has directly entered the draw for this US Open 2023, it is because he grabbed the possibility of the protected ranking, of accessing the classification prior to a relegation caused by a serious injury.
The rupture of the triangular fibrocartilage of the wrist required a visit to the operating room, six months without competing, the entire second half of last year.
He came back last January. It is difficult for him to recover his physical tone, especially, and to maintain a regularity in his game. He had a very good week on the grass in Mallorca, where he made the semifinals.
This Thursday, Spanish Friday morning (1:00 a.m.), he will face for the first time in an official match the US Open champion and world No. 1, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz.
“We know each other, we have trained together. We more or less know how he plays, what his style is. He is a very aggressive player, with great shots,” the Murcian commented on his second-round opponent.
Harris he gave more details hours before their confrontation. He recalled that he met a 15-year-old Alcaraz at the JC Ferrero Equelite Academy, in Villena, where he was going to train during the European clay court season.
It was a bittersweet experience, because he already suffered from the boy’s strength, although the calculation of the sets played turned out to be favorable. This is how he explained it to the official ATP website: “The speed of his forehand was incredible. The weight, the speed. It was, without a doubt, his strong point at that time. Now I could say much more about him because he is a player incredible”.
The memory is fresh: “I trained every day with Carlos. He already hit the forehand much better than me and I thought: it’s a problem. But I was able to beat him in sets.”
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The panorama has changed a lot since then: “His path is incredible, what he has achieved. And what a talent!” Harris declared in the ATP, warning that he did not want to elaborate on Alcaraz because he wanted to forget everything to try to put him in trouble. jam in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
2023-08-31 20:47:51
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