Struggles of Spanish Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz Leading the Way

Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista in an archive image (REUTERS/Pablo Morano)

The times in which Spain opted to be the country with the most tennis players in the Top 100 of the ATP, looking face to face with the United States and France in that struggle, have passed away. At least, in these precise moments, when our racket sport seems to entrust everything, in the men’s circuit, to Carlos Alcaraz. The winner of two Grand Slams is the main Spanish asset in the main tournaments, without any of his companions in the most select part of the ranking giving a blow on the table exciting enough to rule out that the weak cows are a reality .

So far in 2024, the world number two has made the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and the semifinals in Buenos Aires, retiring in the first round of Rio due to a grade II lateral sprain in his right ankle. We have to go down to 24th place in the table to find the next Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich. The man from Malaga, the main alternative to Carlitos, stayed in the group stage of the United Cup and reached the second round in Australia, the quarterfinals in Marseille and the first round in both Rotterdam and Doha.

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Davidovich in Australia (REUTERS/Ciro De Luca)

If we go down to position 66, we have Roberto Carballés. The Tenerife native has recently achieved a quarterfinal in Auckland, a first round in Australia, a second round in Córdoba and a first in both Buenos Aires and Rio. Number 70 is Jaume Munar. Without passing the qualifying round in either Hong Kong or Auckland, the Spaniard fell in the second round in Australia, in the first round in Montpellier, in the quarterfinals in Córdoba, again in the qualifying round in Buenos Aires and in the second round in Rio.

Roberto Carballés at the last US Open (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)

The last national representative among the 100 reference players is Roberto Bautista who, let us not forget, reached number nine in 2019. The Castellón native is 98th in the classification, with a quarterfinal in Hong Kong, a first round in Auckland and in Australia, a second round in Marseille, the previous one in Rotterdam and a first round in Doha as more immediate results. It is clear that the outlook is not particularly encouraging.

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You have to go back to August 1989, almost 35 years ago, to find such poor circumstances at the Spanish tennis level in the ATP. At that time, we had the same number of members, five, in the Top 100: Emilio Sánchez-Vicario (15), Sergi Bruguera (27), Jordi Arrese (39), Javier Sánchez-Vicario (48) and Tomás Carbonell (88 ). Very notable names (Olympic medals and a Roland Garros in between), although the level won entire years later: Moyá, Ferrero, Nadal, Ferrer, Verdasco, etc.

The world number one in tennis, Carlos Alcaraz, has three brothers. Two of them are also involved in the world of tennis

There are two exponents of the present Armada who have fallen enormously in the ranking due to injuries. The first of them is Rafa Nadal who was barely able to play three matches in Brisbane before being absent from the courts again, occupying number 654. Even further down is Pablo Carreño, number 1,032 as he has not been able to compete since October 2023.

Jaume Munar in the Rio tournament (EFE/ André Coelho)

Between the five survivors in the Top 100 and these two notable absences, Pedro Martínez (101), Albert Ramos (104) and Bernabé Zapata (143) will have their options to climb positions. In addition, there are promising rackets such as Pablo Llamas (151), Dani Rincón (208), Martín Landaluce (399) and Dani Mérida (401), who are trusted to improve the performance of the Spaniards soon.

2024-02-26 14:33:00
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