The hottest new star of the ATP 2022 season is none other than Espanyol Alcaraz. ATP 500 Rio Champion, Indian Wells Masters Final Four, Miami Masters Champion, 17 wins and 2 losses in the first quarter, the world ranking reached a career high of 11. Suddenly, fans and the media have high hopes for this post-00 player who has surpassed Federer, Nadal and Xiaode many times in the same age group.
However, after the start of the clay season, in the first game of the Monte Carlo Masters, the favorite clay arena of Alcaraz, Alcaraz unexpectedly lost to the American post-00 player and the second generation of the star Koda. Amid the consternation of fans and the media, the young Alcaraz confidently says: Next week in Barcelona, I will have a new opportunity to get better. Now, With a gold-rich ATP500 Barcelona champion, Alcaraz has proved himself, but also let the fans and the media hang a heart, and finally settled.
After the setback at the Monte Carlo Masters, Alcaraz did not break his word, and he got better in Barcelona.
Alcaraz is now more mature and stable. When leading, we do not relax or take the enemy lightly, and we are not in a hurry; when we are behind, we are not impatient and aggressive, and we are not discouraged.
Barcelona's quarter-finals against Tsitsipas, who had just successfully defended the Monte Carlo Masters, saved the first eight innings of the first set, and with a key break at the end of the set, Alcaraz took the first set 6:4. In the second set, Alcalas, who served after breaking Tsitsipas' two consecutive serves, led the opponent 4-1. At this time, Tsitsipas suddenly exerted his strength and successfully broke consecutively, not only reversing the backward situation, but also breaking for the third time in the end, instead pulling back a set at 7:5.
Alcaraz's good lead in the second set was almost ruined, and if the psychological adjustment at this time is not good, it is likely to directly affect the decisive game. Fortunately, Alcaraz was mentally prepared for this difficult situation and did not suffer from psychological imbalance because of the blow, which in turn affected his technical and tactical level. During the break, Alcaraz went to the bathroom, changed his clothes and came back, and the decisive set was like a broken bamboo, going down four sets in a row to lead Tsitsipas 4-0. In the last four sets, both sides saved their own serves, 6:2, Alcaraz easily won the decider, following the 2021 US Open 1/16 final and the 2022 Miami Masters 1/8 final, the third consecutive victory over the world's fifth, Greece's Golden Beauty Tsitsipas.
In the semi-finals against Australian Hare de Minar, Alcaraz claimed seven defeats in the first set. After the second set of 4:4, the first serve of Alcaraz was broken in the ninth set, and the opponent won the game with the serve, and the situation was critical! Alcaraz did not panic at this time, but calmly responded, and broke successfully without sending the match point in the tenth set, chasing it to a 5:5 draw. In the eleventh set, Alcaraz was once again broken, and was given a second serve to win the game. In the twelfth set, de Minard got two consecutive match points and forced Alcaraz to the edge of the cliff! At this moment, if Alcaraz had slackened and been discouraged, he would have ended in defeat. But Alcaraz faced the danger without losing his composure, decisively attacked, not only saved two match points, but also broke successfully in one fell swoop, bringing the second set into the tiebreaker. At 7:4, Alcaraz returned the game to de Minar with the same seven-point score, dragging the match into the decider.
The decider started with Alcaraz performing well, leading 2-0 and 3-1. De Minar broke out in the mid-session stage, broke and protected the belt, and after a small climax of winning 3 consecutive sets, it was led 4:3. The time has come to test Alcaraz again. If At this time, Alcaraz suffers from gains and losses, thinking that he was originally in the lead and victory is in sight, but now he has lost his advantage and becomes backward, it is likely that there will be emotional changes, affecting the level of technical and tactical performance. Fortunately, Alcaraz was unmoved and continued to play every ball, winning three consecutive sets and winning the game, which took 3 hours and 40 minutes.
Alcaraz learned from Federer, advocated offense, and won a lot of winning points. In the five games of Barcelona, Alcaraz attacked sharply, frequently winning points while also better controlling unforced errors. In the quarter-finals against Tsitsipas, Alcaraz made 17 unforced errors, four more than Tsitsipas, but Alcaraz scored 41 wins and crushed Tsitsipas with 15. It was because of his dominance of the attack and the victory of Tsitsipas that Alcaraz won the biggest victory of this unbelievable career clay court (Alcaraz post-match), because Tsitsipas's clay record since last year (two consecutive years of Monte Carlo Masters champion, 2021 French Open runner-up) has become the third person in clay today after Nadal and Xiaode.
Alcaraz's net interception and small ball-throwing tactics have become more and more sophisticated, and have even become a conventional weapon for defeating the enemy. Time and time again, Alcaraz came to the net, pounced left and right, and scored simple points. Time and time again, Alcaraz suddenly released a small ball, either directly scoring or forcing the opponent to rush back the ball to a low quality, and then another one-shot victory.
ATP500 Barcelona, Alcaraz learned the lesson of the first defeat of the Monte Carlo Masters, won consecutive victories, and finally defeated his compatriot Big Brother Busta to lift the championship trophy at Rafael Nadal Centre. On April 25, at the latest edition of the ATP World Rankings, Alcaraz, born in May 2003, ranked ninth, surpassing Canadian genius Aliasim (ranked 10th in the world) and Italian rookie Sina (ranked 12th in the world) to become the first person of the post-00s players. Not only that, But Alcaraz once again surpassed Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in the same age group, setting a record for winning all four singles finals in the first four singles finals of his career. You know, as strong as Nadal and Djokovic, the first four singles finals of their careers are only three wins and one loss, while Federer is only one win and three losses.
Fan Brother Alcaraz pays tribute to idol Nadal! Also on April 25, the same Barcelona champion, also under the age of 19, also broke into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time, but it was a full 17 years apart! There are talents in the Jiangshan generation. Today, 17 years later, Nadal's successor has truly risen. The flag of Spanish tennis, there is a flag bearer later! (Source: Tennis House Author: Colorful Bean Powder)