ATP Finals: Alcaraz rallies past Rublev to revive hopes of reaching semis
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz brought his trademark energy back to the court on Wednesday at the ATP Finals, overcoming Andrey Rublev 6-3, 7-6(8) in a preliminary group match.
Does Carlos Alcaraz’s victory at Wimbledon prove that the era of the famous trio of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic is over, or in other words can we ask if the Carlos Alcaraz era has begun? Roger Federer, 41, Nadal, 37, and Djokovic 36 are well over the hill in a sport like tennis which is far more demanding than most of the team events.
And the new kid on the circuit, Carlos Alcaraz is just 20 and already has two grad slams under his belt.
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At 20, Alcaraz is the third youngest player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title, after Boris Becker and Björn Borg. Becker won the Wimbledon title at the age of 17 in the year 1985.
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As far as as Alcaraz is concerned this is his maiden Wimbledon title which he won in a five-set thriller on Sunday. He bagged the game 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 which is his second grand slam title. While Djokovic’s career is far from over, injury-ridden Nadal will find it more and more difficult to play henceforth while Djokovic is not growing younger to take on the likes of Alcaraz which clearly means that a new player has emerged to challenge them. The likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, 24 and Daniil Medvedev, 27 and Casper Ruud, 24, have not been successful in posing a stiff challenge to the old order — Roger, Rafale, and Novak Djokovic. Medvedev, Ruud, and Tsitsipas are ranked no.3,4, and five in the world ATP ranking.
20-yr-old Spaniard tennis player Carlos Alcaraz won the Wimbledon final 2023 after defeating world No 1, 23 Grand Slam titles holder Novak Djokovic. Djokovic had a chance of equalling Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles with this Wimbledon win which Alcaraz denied him.
As Alcaraz took on Djokovic at Wimbledon, it was the biggest age gap between two finalists in a Grand Slam in about 50 years. This was Djokovic’s first defeat after 10 years at Centre Court, London.
Alcaraz made it to the main draw of the Australian Open when he was 17, making him the youngest participant in the men’s single category
With his US Open win in 2022 at 19 yrs of age, he became the youngest man in history to top the singles rankings.
He defeated World No 4 and third seed Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open to become the first teenager to defeat him on clay.
He beat Djokovic earlier also in the semifinals for his 6th straight top-10 win at the Madrid Open. He became the youngest player to win a match against a world No 1 since 2004.
He was born in El Palmar (Murcia), a small village in Spain. Both, his grandfather and father, who runs a tennis academy, have played professional tennis.
His trainer is Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former World No 1 and two-time Olympian and the winner of French Open title in 2003.
Rafael Nadal is his role model.
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