LONDON — Highlight reels from Carlos Alcaraz‘s first five matches at Wimbledon are already making the rounds online. But it’s not his 104 mph forehands — or the Roger Federer-esque around-the-post backhand — that have carried Alcaraz into his first Wimbledon semifinal.
It’s that the 2022 US Open champion has learned how to translate his dazzling speed to these courts, and how to deploy those shots on the surface on which he’s least comfortable. In only his fourth tournament on grass, the 20-year-old is molding himself into the shape of a Wimbledon contender.
“Carlos learns so much from every experience,” ESPN analyst Pam Shriver says. “And he’s had a pretty meaningful six weeks.”
Put another way, by fellow analyst James Blake: “The rate he’s getting better is absolutely absurd.”
Take this moment from Wednesday’s quarterfinal. Tied at 3-3 in the first-set tiebreak, Alcaraz and Holger Rune had played nearly identical tennis. More than an hour into their first Grand Slam matchup, the men — born six days apart in 2003 and the first players under 21 to meet in a Wimbledon quarterfinal — had scored 41 points apiece. Neither had broken serve. They had played brilliant, creative tennis at times but sloppy and tight at others.
Then Rune double-faulted and Alcaraz pounced. He took the next three points and the first set. As his final service-return winner skidded away from the court, he turned to his box and released a long, primal scream, the kind typically reserved for celebrating after match point.
“It was [letting go of] nerves, tension, everything,” Alcaraz said after the match. “The first set was really tough for me. A lot of nerves. I couldn’t control it at all. That huge scream after the first set helped me to put out all the nerves and start to enjoy the moment, to enjoy the match.”
From that point, Alcaraz settled into the style of aggressive, fearless, heady tennis that took him to No. 1 in the world, the youngest player ever to hold that distinction. In the…
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