ATP Miami – Carlos Alcaraz, simply out of the ordinary

To say something is up with Carlos Alcaraz is an understatement. Semi-finalist two weeks ago in Indian Wells, where he had only yielded against Rafael Nadal, here he is again in the last four in Miami. Everything about him invites the superlative. His results. His game. His attitude. What he is. What he does. What it releases. A form of evidence that whispers in our ears that he embodies the future of tennis. Perhaps it is not so far from being its present. Yes, something is going on with Carlos Alcaraz. Everyone can smell it and this perfume has almost new scents.

Since when have we not seen a player of this age so strong? At least, probably since Rafael Nadal. Carlos Alcaraz is not yet 19 years old. He will celebrate them in May. 19 is the age at which Nadal won the first of his 21 Grand Slam titles in 2005. His compatriot is not there yet. For the Manacor champion, everything accelerated in the spring of 2005, when he approached the gates of the Top 30, at the start of the clay court season. Two and a half months later, he was world number 2, had won his first Masters 1000 and thus opened his Grand Slam record at Roland-Garros.

With Nadal too, it was “easy” to have this feeling. This same form of evidence. Especially on clay. At Alcaraz, the situation is different. He is undoubtedly a more complete player than Rafa was at the same age, but the level of his elder was already so incredible on his favorite surface that he was closer to winning major titles. Alcaraz, he still has only two tournaments to his name. It should be noted, however, that in the event of a title on Sunday in Florida, he would offer himself his first Masters 1000 at 18 years and 333 days. Nadal was 18 years and 318 days old.

Can he follow in Nadal’s footsteps to the point of becoming the second player under 19 in the 21st century to win a Masters 1000? Or become the second player under 20 in the past three decades to lift a Grand Slam trophy? The answer to the first question can be settled on Sunday, although he will have to deal with a lot physically and emotionally to go through with it at Hard Rock Stadium. Regarding the second, it would involve winning one of the next four Majors. Difficult to materialize for a Cartesian mind.

After all, we are talking about a player who has only reached the second week of a Grand Slam yet. It was during the last US Open and he arrived roasted in the quarter-finals against Félix Auger-Aliassime. Reason says it’s too big, too soon. But Alcaraz learns so quickly that we wouldn’t advise anyone to put all their savings on the impossibility of the thing. He is already no longer the same player as six months ago. Who can predict who he will become in the next six?

Nothing is normal in what Carlos Alcaraz has accomplished in recent weeks, in the sense that it goes beyond the standards in force in current tennis. He shouldn’t be the favourite, almost the big favorite of a Masters 1000 at the dawn of the semi-finals. He shouldn’t have been the favorite before facing Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round of 16, and yet that was the most widespread sentiment among observers. It’s not normal, but it was. Because it breaks standards. “I don’t even know whether to speak of surprise“, suggested Andy Roddick after the (clear) defeat of the Greek against the prodigy.

First there is everything that is seen and jumps in the face. This staggering power for his age. A physical box closer to that of a 25-year-old player than that of a teenager. The quality of his movements. That of his strikes. This first bullet which already constitutes an almost massive weapon. The Murcian is already a top-notch tennis player. This everyone can see. But there is also what everyone feels.

If he intrigues and attracts so much, it is also because, in addition to holding a potential future great champion of men’s tennis, Carlos Alcaraz undoubtedly has the stuff to become a real character. “What he releases”, as written above. But that can’t be invented, it can’t be worked on. When you have it, you have it. “Alca”, he has it. It is enough to see in what state it puts the public of Miami these last days. Against Tsitsipas, the Grandstand was delirious. Against Miomir Kecmanovic on Thursday night, it was madness. “I felt like I was playing in Spain“, admitted the young Carlos, almost surprised to arouse such enthusiasm. Yes, when you put a crowd in this state, something happens.

Some will say, and they will not be wrong, that it is dangerous to get carried away for such a young player. That in recent years we have seen early elements, such as Alexander Zverev or Félix Auger-Aliassime, emerge very quickly before experiencing more or less lasting setbacks on the various obstacles on the way to their progress. This may also be the case for the Spaniard, but, at the risk of taking a risk, it seems to us that his own precocity has a more solid substance.

We can of course display a false modesty of circumstance or caution, say or write “Leave him alone, he has time”. But that would be to omit a reality: it is Carlos Alcaraz himself who dictates the tempo of his meteoric rise. Until today, it pulverizes the standards observed recently. If this is not totally a guarantee for the future, it is all the same an indicator that it is impossible to ignore.