Better than expected! What is the secret of Alcaraz’s phenomenal run at the French Open?

The French Open enters its second week. As expected, Carlos Alcaraz is among the top eight tennis players at the Paris Grand Slam. The 20-year-old Spaniard is advancing with unexpected ease. What did the eight-final match against Musetti show and what is the Spaniard’s next programme?

In Sunday’s matches in the men’s section of Rolland Garros, the favourites won. Karen Khachanov, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz all secured their place in the quarter-finals. Especially for the latter, it was surprising how easily he reached the eight-final victory.

We should actually look back one more match. Canadian Denis Shapovalov should have been quite a serious obstacle as well. But the world number one didn’t admit any trouble and moved on without losing a set.

Sunday’s eighth-final match promised to be a great resistance for Italian Musetti. At least on paper. But all the resistance was really only on paper. The Italian led 2:0, but then the match was clearly dominated by “Carlitos”.

The reasons for Alcaraz’s domination

Half of all exchanges start with the player’s own serve. So let’s start with the serve. In the matches against both Shapoval and Musetti, Carlos Alcaraz served well. In both cases, he had a 73% first serve success rate.

Not many people have numbers like that. In Sunday’s matches, only one other player could boast a similar first serve. That’s Novak Djokovic. The Spanish tennis player also thanks to this fact does not lose points with unnecessary double faults. In the course of Roland Garros so far, he has recorded an average of less than one double fault per set.

But the positives of Alcaraz’s game don’t end there. Great forehands and amazing stopballs. Moreover, the Murcia native knows when to use the best shot. Even six-time Grand Slam semi-finalist Tim Henman has no shortage of praise for his game.

Henman on Alcaraz

The former professional tennis player is convinced that Alcaraz’s form is almost intimidating for other tennis players. The Spaniard uses tried and tested formulas in his game, but he also engages his instincts appropriately and has a great feel for the game.

“Alcaraz was able to dictate the pace of the match whenever he wanted to and I don’t think Musetti ever believed at any point during the match that he could actually win the match,” Henman returned in an interview with Eurosport about Sunday’s eight-final.

At the age of 20, Alcaraz is maturing very quickly into an incredibly great tennis player. The last match speaks very well of his progress. Let’s recall that last year he lost against the Italian Musetti in the final of the Hamburg event. On Sunday, the world number one won the match against the same opponent smoothly after 6::3, 6::2, 6::2 sets.

A great quarter-final

In the next part of the tournament schedule, the fans will be treated to some very tempting matches. On Tuesday, Djokovic will play Khachanov and also Carlos Alcaraz against Greek Tsitsipas. Stefanos Tsitsipas is hungry for his Grand Slam title, but he will have an incredibly difficult time against the Spaniard.

The world number one has beaten the Greek tennis player in all four of their matches so far. If he confirms this excellent record, he may well be facing a semi-final against Novak Djokovic. Or will one of them surprisingly clash on Tuesday? We’ll see, either way we have a lot to look forward to in Paris in the coming days.

Source: French Open