Carlos Alcaraz can play down comparisons with Rafael Nadal all he likes but, if the Spaniard continues in his current vein, they are unlikely to stop.
Since the inception of the Madrid Open in 2001, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray are among the stars who have tried and failed to defend the title, with five-time champion Nadal the only man to claim back-to-back victories in the Spanish capital.
But that changed on Sunday as Alcaraz retained the crown he won last year against Alexander Zverev with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over another German, lucky loser Jan-Lennard Struff, to equal the landmark set by his compatriot nine years ago. With his fourth tournament victory of the season, the 20-year-old also matched another of Nadal’s milestones, becoming the youngest man to defend a Masters 1000 title since the 22-time grand slam champion did it in Monte Carlo and Rome in 2006.
Having also mounted a successful title defence in Barcelona a fortnight ago, Alcaraz will overtake Djokovic at the top of the rankings next week in Rome, where he will attempt to win the tournament on his debut. The last man to do it? Nadal. Should he pull it off, Alcaraz might as well stick a bull logo on his shirt and be done with it.
“I have never played in Rome,” said Alcaraz, who skipped the event last year to rest after his exploits in Madrid. “I really want to play there. I missed last year.
“This is a tournament that I looking for since I was kid. I don’t know how it’s going to be, I don’t know the feelings over there, but for sure I’m going to enjoy that tournament.”
With Nadal still absent as he continues his recovery from the hip injury he suffered at the Australian Open, and a lingering question mark over Djokovic’s fitness after the elbow problem that forced him to pull out of Madrid, Alcaraz may well enjoy himself. He will arrive in Rome as the title favourite and, barring a dominant performance from Djokovic, who has been practising in Marbella without the protective sleeve he wore on his elbow in Monte Carlo and Banja Luka, he will be similarly fancied by the oddsmakers in Paris.
It was a similar story last year, of course, when wins over Nadal, Djokovic and Zverev across three consecutive days in Madrid led to predictions of Alcaraz claiming a maiden grand slam title in Paris, only for Zverev to ambush the Murcian in the quarter-finals. But as Alcaraz’s performance against Struff demonstrated, the difference this time around is that he is better equipped to win on those rare days when aspects of his game are misfiring, even against an opponent playing at the height of his ability.
In the biggest match of his career, Struff, the world No 65, certainly did that. The error-strewn service game with which he began was quickly exposed as a red herring, the 33-year-producing some venomous returns as he forced Alcaraz to battle for nine minutes to hold his opening service game. Daniela Hantuchova, the former world No 5 turned TV pundit, suggested that the heavily watered court represented an attempt by the organisers to slow down the conditions, nullifying the 6ft 4in Struff’s huge serve and favouring the home favourite.
If that was the case, however, the stratagem backfired, neutralising the pace of Alcaraz’s delivery and allowing Struff to maintain an aggressive return position on the baseline. Two games later, the German blasted a return winner to break back to love. Alcaraz began to look unsettled, gesturing in frustration to his box before switching to a different racket. Tension was very much the order of the afternoon.
Alcaraz reasserted his authority, forcing a break in the seventh game as Struff double-faulted after another lengthy struggle on serve. But the German’s bold hitting and willingness to rush the net, even behind his second serve, continued to cause the Spaniard all manner of problems. He was almost undone by a trio of forehand errors as he served for the set, recovering from 0-40 with some incisive serving and a brilliant topspin lob. Alcaraz sealed the opener with a thunderbolt forehand, but some aggressive returning from Struff secured an early break in the second, and from there the lower-ranked man seized control to level the contest.
With a stunned silence descending on the Caja Mágica and Alcaraz’s errors mounting, the momentum was with Struff as they went into the decider. History both recent and distant was with him. Having defeated Alcaraz two years ago at Roland Garros – and pushed him to a fifth set at Wimbledon last summer in their only other previous meeting – he would be unlikely to falter at the prospect of victory. Moreover, he had gone the distance in five consecutive matches en route to the final and not been broken once in a deciding set.
So there was real danger for Alcaraz as he faced a break point in the third game. Struff, though, failed to grasp the nettle, waiting for his opponent to miss only to send a backhand long himself. Alcaraz had seen enough. Orchestrating the crowd into a paroxysm of fervour, the US Open champion broke in the next game, pulling off a signature drop shot winner before prising a volleying error from Struff. He would not be caught.
Even in defeat, though, this was a tournament that belonged to Struff. His improbable run to the final, after losing in qualifying to Aslan Karatsev – a defeat he avenged in the last four – has been the stuff of fairytales. He will now rise to a career-high ranking of 28 and, if he can maintain this level, he is more than capable of a deep run at Roland Garros or Wimbledon, where he was a quarter-finalist five years ago.
“It’s been an incredible journey from lucky loser to be in the final,” said Struff. “It gives me a lot of push for the next weeks and months. It was a best-career achievement so far.
“I think it will sink in [over] the next [few] days.”
As for Alcaraz, he knew he had been in a fight.
“I knew he was going to play aggressive, serve and volley, trying to attack my serve,” said the Spaniard, whose title defence started in similarly testing style against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori last week. “It was tough for me.”
Tougher tests yet lie ahead. The suspicion is that Alcaraz will be ready for all of them.