It is often said that Carlos Alcaraz, with his signature blend of power and finesse, is redefining the way tennis is played. That being the case, the Spaniard would do well to beware of imitators.
Few players have the tools to aspire to that status but, as Alcaraz learned to his cost in Rome on Monday, Fabian Marozsan, a 23-year-old Hungarian ranked 135 in the world, is one of them. Equipped with clean, forceful groundstrokes and a drop shot no less lethal than that of his more celebrated opponent, Marozsan outplayed Alcaraz at his own game, dictating the baseline exchanges and showcasing his soft hands and all-court variety to claim a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory that sent shockwaves around the Foro Italico.
No one will have been more surprised than Marozsan, a man more accustomed to plying his trade on the Challenger circuit than on one of the sport’s most iconic stages. Before last Thursday, he had never even contested a main draw match at an ATP event, much less a Masters 1000. Now he is through to the last-16 and within one win of a place in the top 100.
“Mostly I’m playing Challenger tournaments,” said Marozsan, who will seek to continue his improbable odyssey against Borna Coric on Tuesday. “Now I’m maybe close to the top 100. This is my first ATP Masters tournament here.
“I’m really, really happy with this tournament. I mean, the goal for me was winning one match in the qualies. Now I just won five matches.
“I beat a top 100 player here in the first round [France’s Corentin Moutet]. In the second one, I just beat [Jiri] Lehecka. He was seeded [32]. It’s a really good thing for me. Now I just played against the No 1, Alcaraz. I mean, it’s not easy to say something. I’m really happy with this one.”
Alcaraz, the champion in Barcelona and Madrid and incoming world No 1, went into the contest on a run of a dozen clay-court victories. For once, though, the assurance and swagger of a player who has previously lost just twice in 32 matches this season gave way to uncertainty and, ultimately, bewilderment.
The US Open champion‘s plight was encapsulated midway through the second set, when Marozsan produced a drop shot of such breath-taking skill and audacity that Alcaraz, unable to put his attempted reply back in court, stood leaning on the net afterwards, gazing towards his box with a mixture of disbelief and befuddlement.
“He surprised me a lot,” said Alcaraz. “His level was really, really high. I’m sure he’s going to break the top 100 very, very soon.
“I didn’t play really, really well obviously. But, of course, he plays his match, he plays at a really high level. I couldn’t follow his level.
“He was at the same level the whole match. That is very, very difficult. I tried to fight until the last ball, but it wasn’t enough.”
In truth, with Marozsan controlling the flow of the rallies, often from inside the baseline, Alcaraz was simply never allowed to produce his best. Slight of build but sturdy of shot, the Hungarian was able to neutralise Alcaraz’s kick serves with the sharpness and accuracy of his backhand return, finding the second seed’s own backhand with such unerring frequency that Alcaraz, fearful of being caught out of position, was forced to abandon his habit of delivering his serve from wide positions.
Marozsan’s drop shots had a similar effect, denying Alcaraz the advantage he normally enjoys of being able to force opponents back with his power, leaving them at the mercy of his touch shots. For once, it was the Spaniard who had to play each rally with the unsettling awareness that a manic sprint forward might be required at any moment. Not that it deterred him from setting up shop well behind the baseline.
Marozsan, however, stressed that his frequent deployment of drop shots was down to habit rather than Alcaraz’s positioning.
“If I’m playing [a] Challenger tournament, I’m playing the same,” said Marozsan. “I have a lot of drop shots against everybody, not just today because of Alcaraz standing behind the baseline.”
The standard procedure for a top seed up against a lower-ranked opponent playing lights-out tennis is simply to stay in touch long enough for the storm to blow itself out. Marozsan, however, just kept on coming. Having snatched an early break, he maintained the advantage with clinically efficient serving and showed no trace of self-doubt as he closed out the opener, pounding down a pair of aces before wrapping up a love hold with an incisive drive volley.
A first hint of anxiety came in the fifth game game of the second set, when Marozsan established a 0-40 lead only for his forehand to desert him. But after a flurry of errors, he calmly steadied himself to break at the next time of asking, prising an error from Alcaraz with a finely judged lob.
Now fighting for his life, the Spaniard immediately hit back to level, a drop shot setting up a forehand pass that he greeted with an explosion of emotion. But for all his efforts to cajole himself and orchestrate the crowd, Alcaraz was for once unable to capitalise on his opportunities. Marozsan survived a testing service game at 5-6, and bounced back again after losing four of the first five points in the ensuing tiebreak. It was to be the Hungarian’s day.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable,” said Alcaraz. “He was aggressive all the time. He was playing inside the baseline all the time. It was tough for me to get into the match, into the rally. I made a lot of mistakes that I usually don’t make.
“Obviously these days can happen in tennis, and you have to handle it. In the second set I was close, I had my chances, but I didn’t take the chances.
“He deserves the win.”