The duel between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic pleased the more than 27,000 spectators who filled the Arthur Ashe de Flushing … Meadow It was a semifinal with a final painting and what had to happen, happened. The forecasts did not fail. The number two could with the seven. The 22 -year -old showed that today he is more than the old 38 -year -old rocker. Alcaraz is on his way to his sixth title. He will play it on Sunday against Jannik Sinner or Félix Auger-Alaissime.
The age passes and Djokovic is noticed in the last two years. The young people of the new generation have grown strongly and ask for a clue to follow the steps of those great players who have preceded them. The Serbian wanted to win in the United States. He had declared that if he did this it would be the most important triumph of his life. That’s why he fought as he did in the previous rounds. But yesterday, in addition to being exhausted and depleted with forces, he found a wall that only generates magic, real fantasy and helplessness in the rival, stunned, without knowing how to respond.
Alcaraz has grown a lot. He is a different player. He has improved in the serve and is faster than ever. You have confidence both when it serves as when you remain or connect your parallels or crossed. Yesterday he barely abused those left.
The ninth confrontation with the tennis player who has overcome more tournaments has defeated (24) was easier than expected for Alcaraz. He enjoyed every point, every play and smiled at the end. Only in the last game of Wimbledon 2024, the Spanish had savored such a comfortable victory in three sets.
It was like dancing a ballad. Or better, taking advantage of the fact that in the box of authorities was actor Rami Malek, the protagonist of the film Bohemians Rhapsody, Alcaraz gave himself the luxury of offering an entire recital not singing as Freddy Mercury did, but of impressive game, which raised the audience of his seats.
The Spanish always led the game. I wore the rhythm and wore the best blows. It was blunt. Intense. Incisor. A machine to produce which most varied, which most accurate. Pure punch where Djokovic could not arrive or was helpless to return them. He knew that the adversary did not want a long game, and he sometimes sought to define the first, but also when he wanted to lengthen the point he subjected him to exchanges with just one intention: to exhaust the rival.
«It was important to put two sets to zero because that gives you a margin of trust. You know if things get bad, you can still recover. And it also physically allows you to trust that the opponent if he wants to win will have to fight to reach the fifth set ». And that was what happened. Djokovic put 2-0 in the Tie-Break, but then lost four in a row and no longer lifted his head. He even had the need to ask for a massage. The body was already asking for help. He had it, but did not regain ground.
Nole Djokovic, after losing the first set, already felt that this time he did not have the strength of other times to extend the game to five sets. And he also wanted to be fast. And there, in that section, the fastest is Alcaraz. Novak failed the serve. In the previous game he had converted 18 ACES. Yesterday he only connected 4.
Nor the slightest advantage
Nor Alcaraz granted him a minimum advantage. The Spanish is still the only tennis player who has not lost a set in this tournament, and that is a source of security and trust. This will be the second final that Alcaraz dispute in New York after the 2022 in which he won his first big title.
«Djokovic is an unrepeatable player. It is a legend, has broken all records and that is worth admiring. But he is a more dignified person outside the cameras. It is here to help young people. He is a very humble and a beautiful person, ”were Alcaraz’s words to honor one of the greatest tennis players in tennis history. This time the year does not say without a big title. The last one was the US Open of 2023. This year it has become the first tennis player who disputes the four semifinals of the large tournaments and does not reach the final. Maybe yesterday he played his last game on the New York track. Another generation asks for the way. Alcaraz belongs to her.
