We have seen a lot of success stories from Carlos Alcaraz in the last couple of years. As we approach the second major of the season, one must keep it in mind that Spain’s most impressive active tennis star is trying to defend his French Open title and Wimbledon title from a year ago.
What we saw on Sunday was mightily impressive from the 22-year-old who calls El Palmar home. Alcaraz put together a second set for the ages in the Italian Open. It was a match where he beat world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy, 7-6, 6-1.
The first set was extremely even with Alcaraz winning a second set tiebreak 7-5. The second set was anything but close, which required me to pose the question–have we ever seen a more impressive set from Alcaraz? My answer is no.
Alcaraz won 26 of 40 points. He had nine winners compared to only two for Sinner. Alcaraz also deserved high praise for his return of serve as he broke the world number one twice with ease.
Yes, this was Sinner’s first tournament back from being suspended. It was impressive for him to even reach the final. What we saw on Sunday in the last half hour of the match leads me to argue that Sinner still needs more time to get back to where he was in New York and Australia, and that Alcaraz definitely deserves to be back at number two, as he is significantly better than Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
Next up is the French. From what we saw in Monte Carlo and Italy, it will be hard to bet against Alcaraz.
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