NewsUSACarlos Alcaraz, a troublemaker against monotony

Carlos Alcaraz, a troublemaker against monotony

Perhaps there is no better snapshot to synthesize how Carlos Alcaraz acts than the one taken on May 9. So, the tennis player had just won the Masters in Madrid and two months ago he had celebrated the one in Miami, and the choice for the new celebration could not be another: the balcony of his house. There, together with his father Carlos – like his grandfather, also Carlos – and his mother Virginia, he dedicated the title to the inhabitants of El Palmar, where he is still one more among the 24,000 inhabitants who reside in the Murcian district . Trophy in hand and at the top of his voice, the boy spontaneously thanked his countrymen, who despite the successes and the dazzling rise to the top of tennis continue to recognize him as one more. In other words, Alcaraz continues to be Carlitos today.

“A good and noble boy, without folds, from here. Authentic. What you see is what you get. I don’t think that everything that is happening changes his way of being too much”, transmits a person from his environment who has known him since the athlete raised a couple of feet from the ground, when he was already a restless ass that in adolescence continued just as unruly and now the new life, the extraordinary of his career, forces him to grow much faster than normal. “I feel like I’m the same as always, a 19-year-old boy. It is what tennis has, but I understand it and I accept it, ”says he, who in just over a year and a half in the elite has already proven that he has not arrived to tiptoe.

Alcaraz points to the space of the chosen ones, or so the facts say. He breaks precocity records, raises posh trophies and necessarily differentiates himself in the midst of a stagnant landscape that is preparing for the big change. Little by little an era closes, the veterans retreat and the three giants are sustained by greatness; the design of one (Roger Federer) is unknown; that of another (Novak Djokovic) is very clear and loses camber due to his convictions; and that of the third (Rafael Nadal) remains to be seen, since he is torn between the dichotomy of continuing to punish his body (and winning) or definitively focus on safeguarding well-being for tomorrow.

For years, tennis has demanded a boom, a twist, a subversive element that would alter the established order. And he seems to have found it in the impetuous Alcaraz, a revolutionary element, a troublemaker without restraint that stands out among the plain that the current game record offers. In front of pum-pum-pum from now on, the one to which tomorrow is hopelessly doomed, he appears and his eclectic and dynamic style that has a bit of everything, punch, determination, daring and imagination, also resilience; in front of the towers, the mallets and the resolution of the point to three or four strokes of the majority of the young people who are settling in the circuit or those who have already carved a niche, his proposal has a transgressive connotation.

The ATP and ‘the day after…’

“In terms of creativity, he is the best”, Croatian Marin Cilic praises him. “When I see him play I forget his age. Since he beat Tsitsipas [el curso pasado en Nueva York] I watch your matches. She generates a lot of expectation, and she is achieving something that has not happened for a long time ”, adds the Japanese Naomi Osaka. “Today he is the best”, the German Alexander Zverev abounded in May. “It’s a great stimulus for tennis,” adds American John McEnroe.

And the Swedish Mats Wilander had an impact these days on the Eurosport channel: “I think he is the fastest player I have ever seen. He is creative, has forehand and backhand, and is capable of hitting the ball with a continental grip. [con la raqueta recta, requiere de mucha fuerza en la muneca]. Basically, she has it all.”

Not long ago, the rectors of the ATP – the body that directs the men’s circuit – racked their brains thinking about the day after. Without Federer, Nadal and Djokovic on the court, the attractiveness of their sport will suffer radically and, hand in hand, the ability to attract sponsorships and maintain diffusion will diminish. However, now they breathe a little easier, given that after seeing how one project after another of potential figures remained halfway through and did not finish taking the step towards stardom – lacking in charisma in many cases – Alcaraz emerges as a vein in every way: tennis and propaganda.

a fed up generation

The Medvedevs, Zverevs, Tsitsipas or Thiems have collided again and again against the greatness of the three guardians and, in some cases, they are rather clueless. They have scratched what they could (or what they have been left), and there are not a few voices that speak of a rather lost intermediate generation. Fed up and worn out. In the opposite direction, the disciplined Alcaraz accelerates, applauded for his game and also for his work ethic.

For sample, his body. In just a year and a half, the physical transformation is more than evident and even striking: Carlitos is nothing. A Conan In all rules. Unlike other talents, his attitude and manners constantly refer to the desire to improve, and his words are accompanied by appetite, evolution and data. Victories and trophies.

Alcaraz generates unanimity. The companions of the circuit point to him and the fan recognizes him as a troublemaker who has arrived just when he was needed. He supposes the Spanish a refreshing breath: young, daring, without vices. And groundbreaking. He has not knocked on the door to enter. He triumphs naturally. He goes with all Carlitos, faithful to his plan: make everything blow up. “It’s crazy,” summarizes a member of his team. “If I work hard, I think I can reach the top. My dream is to be number one and for that I train to the fullest every day”, he said a couple of years ago, when he had not yet hatched. But he did it, boy did he do it. Against monotony, the best antidote: the insurrection of Alcaraz.

THE DAVIS AND THE MASTERS, DOUBLE ENCOURAGEMENT

BC | New York

Between now and the end of the year, Alcaraz will focus on two big goals: the Davis Cup and the Masters Cup. The man from Murcia is among those summoned to play this week in the group stage with the Spanish team, in Valencia, and if Bruguera’s men manage to qualify for the final stage, he would compete from November 23 to 27 in Malaga. It remains to be seen, however, if he finally attends the appointment in the next few days and if he does attend, to what degree he participates.

In between, the Murcian will compete for the first time in the Masters that brings together the eight best of the season; It will be from November 13 to 20 in Turin. It should be remembered that, due to his age, he would have to play the one with the promises. Last year, the Spaniard already conquered the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, but then he already offered the feeling that the event was too small for his tennis.

Apart from these two events, his theoretical roadmap includes the Astana Open (Kazakhstan, from October 3 to 9), Basel (from October 24 to 30) and the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000 (from October 31 to November 6).

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Source: EL PAIS

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