Carlos Alcaraz may be only 18 years old, but the Spaniard has long maintained that he does not wish to be known as the next Rafael Nadal. His victory at the Rio Open, where he prevailed 6-4, 6-2 against Diego Schwartzman of Argentina to claim the second and so far biggest title of his fledgling career, offered further evidence that he is very much his own man.
The manner of the win did much to support Toni Nadal’s view that Alcaraz is already a more technically accomplished player than his nephew was at the same age. While Nadal spent the early years of his professional career gradually expanding his repertoire, the remarkable variety of the teenager’s game gives the impression of a player who has arrived on the tour fully formed. That is an illusion, of course. His serve remains, for the moment, a work in progress, and on another day his failure to consolidate an early second-set break could have proved costly. Yet Alcaraz’s impressive range of shots offer a clue as to why a photo of Roger Federer, rather than Nadal, takes pride of place in his room at the academy in Alicante where he trains.
“I think this is my game,” said Alcaraz, “a lot of variety. It was the key [to how] I won the match.”
His analysis was spot on. The raking topspin forehand that is Alcaraz’s calling card was complemented by two-handed backhands that reared up viciously off the clay, one-handed slices, lethal assurance in the forecourt and an array of deliciously artful drop shots. The rainbow that appeared over the court midway through the opening set, adding to the dramatic vista of the Corcovado mountain in the background, offered an obvious metaphor for the Spaniard’s kaleidoscopic arsenal.
Such weaponry is only as effective as the player deploying it, and here Alcaraz utilised his assets with craft and intelligence. Few men know their way around a clay court better than Schwartzman, and in the early stages the third-seeded Argentine worked hard to pin the younger man in his weaker backhand corner. The Spaniard’s fleetness of foot ensured most of those shots were taken on the forehand, but the strategy served its purpose, drawing Alcaraz into the kind of protracted baseline exchanges that are meat and drink to Schwartzman.
As the business end of a high-quality opening set beckoned, however, Alcaraz began to move in and redirect the ball down the line with his backhand, disturbing Schwartzman’s rhythm sufficiently to earn a vital break that he set up with a deft drop volley and sealed with a spectacular running pass. Alcaraz served out in summary fashion, ripping an off forehand, caressing an unreachable drop shot and hoisting a perfectly measured lob to finish the opener with 13 winners and just four unforced errors.
Schwartzman had battled for over five and a half hours the previous day to make it past Pablo Andujar and Francisco Cerundolo after bad weather meant the quarter- and semi-finals had to be played back-to-back. It exacted a toll that appeared more mental than physical. A double fault at deuce in the opening game of the second set proved costly, and with Alcaraz a set and a break to the good, things looked bleak for the Argentine. Yet Schwartzman was not about to roll over, and in the next game some bold play from the baseline seemed to unnerve Alcaraz, who gifted his opponent the break back with a pair of unforced errors. The setback was temporary. Alcaraz responded with a game of ferocious intensity, sealing another break with a blazing cross-court forehand and consolidating the advantage with a timely injection of pace on serve. He would lose only one more game.
“I can’t believe it, honestly. It has been a great week for me playing a great level,” said Alcaraz after becoming the youngest ATP 500 champion since the classification was introduced in 2009. “First tournament on clay since a long time, so I’m really happy with the performance during the whole week. It’s an amazing feeling right now.”
Alcaraz rises to a career-high ranking of 20, narrowly eclipsing Nadal as the youngest active player to achieve that landmark. For a player who made his ATP main draw debut in Rio just two years ago, it has been a remarkably rapid ascent. It will surely not be the last time he rewrites the record books.