The last Grand Slam battle of 2023 has been fought. We want to take a look at who particularly stood out among the men this year.
by Jens Huiber
last edited: September 11, 2023, 9:08 p.m
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Only these two men were able to win a Grand Slam tournament in 2023: Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic
Winners: Djokovic, Alcaraz and…?
Strictly speaking, Novak Djokovic was a slightly weaker tiebreaker in the Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz away from making the 2023 calendar Grand Slam. The Serbian grandmaster, now number one in the world again, has further perfected his ability to be there on the really important occasions. The fact that Alcaraz was able to take advantage of Djokovic’s brief period of weakness in London speaks for the young Spaniard.
Aside from the two champions, a few other ATP professionals can also look back on the major season quite relaxed. There’s Ben Shelton, for example, who went one better with the semi-finals at the US Open after his strong performance in Australia. Tommy Paul, on the other hand, started in the last four in Melbourne but was not able to fully confirm this success. Overall trend is still good.
Maybe also on the winning side: Jannik Sinner with his first-ever entry into a semi-final (at Wimbledon). And Daniil Medvedev, who, after what he claims was a weak preseason (and a difficult start to it), has made claims again with the semi-finals in Wimbledon and the final in New York. In contrast to Sinner, Medvedev already has his major championship in his pocket.
Losers: Fritz, Tsitsipas and…?
Taylor Fritz made it into the top ten of the ATP charts for the first time in the 2022 season – at that time without any major successes in the four most important events. That should change this year. Alone: At the Australian Open, the American number one lost in round two against Alexei Popyrin, at Roland Garros in round three against Francisco Cerundolo, at Wimbledon again in round two against Mikael Ymer and most recently in Flushing Meadows he had no chance against Novak until the quarter-finals Djokovic. However, Fritz is still number eight in the world. There is room for improvement.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will be disappointed that he didn’t win his first major title this year either. In Australia, the Greek stormed to the final – only to see no light there against Novak Djokovic. Things weren’t much better against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros. At Wimbledon he lost against Christopher Eubanks and in New York against Dominic Stricker. Is the window in which Stefanos Tsitsipas can win a major soon closing?
And shouldn’t we ask the same question about Alexander Zverev? At least you can. And has to exclude the Australian Open. Zverev was still freshly back in business, eight months after his accident in Paris. Speaking of which: The German declared himself fully competitive there again, but then lost without a chance against Casper Ruud. Like against Carlos Alcaraz in New York. And in between actually against Matteo Berrettini at Wimbledon. Small injuries may have played a role. But the window in which the long-awaited win of a Grand Slam tournament is possible is also slowly closing for Alexander Zverev.
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Djokovic Novak Carlos Alcaraz
2023-09-11 18:49:00
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