Six weeks ago, when Carlos Alcaraz was beaten by Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells, Nadal was nursing a fractured rib. In their only match prior to that, at the Madrid Open last year, Alcaraz won just three games. As the 19-year-old prepared to renew acquaintances with Nadal at the Caja Mágica, it would have been entirely natural to harbour a sense of foreboding.
Alcaraz doesn’t appear to do trepidation, however, and it is a measure of how rapidly the gap is narrowing between the gifted young Spaniard and even his most feted peers that it was Nadal, the winner of 21 grand slam titles, who approached the contest with greater uncertainty. Admittedly, that was largely down to circumstance. His rib barely recovered, Nadal arrived in Madrid with minimal preparation and correspondingly low expectations. The more immediate backdrop to his third meeting with Alcaraz was a three-hour epic against David Goffin that exacerbated his chronic foot injury.
Yet Nadal’s pre-match observation that “today, he is better than me and he has a good dynamic, a good momentum” proved prescient as Alcaraz secured a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory, becoming the first teenager to beat the five-time Madrid champion on clay. That he did so despite suffering a heavy fall that left him requiring treatment on an ankle injury, and in the face of a typically intrepid fightback from Nadal, merely added to the resonance of a win that will only reinforce the widely-held belief that a first grand slam victory is imminent, potentially as soon as Roland Garros.
“I’m very excited,” said Alcaraz, the seventh seed, who will rise to a career-high ranking of sixth next week only a fortnight after he broke into the top 10 by clinching his third title of the year, at the Barcelona Open. “A lot of excitement. Very few players can say that they have defeated Rafa on clay. I feel fortunate to be one of them. Right now I am very, very happy.”
Defeat at a stop on the clay-court swing where the altitude makes for atypical playing conditions will be of less concern to Nadal than finding form and fitness in time for Roland Garros, where he will begin his pursuit of a 14th title in a fortnight’s time. A first victory over his compatriot nonetheless represents a landmark moment not only for Alcaraz but also, as Nadal acknowledged, for Spanish tennis.
“He’s 19 years old,” said Nadal. “His birthday was yesterday. Me, I’m 36 years old. Of course it’s a handover. From here onwards, if it’s today or not, we will see.
“He has been better than me in several aspects of the match and several aspects of the game, and I need to improve.
“I just accept it naturally with calm and with security, that there is a path to continue until two-and-a-half weeks’ time, more or less, to try to generate with myself real options, and that’s what I’m working on right now. It’s an easy loss to digest in that regard, because we knew what we could expect here. Because of that, I don’t take away any merit from Carlos. Congratulations to him. He’s playing great, and I hope the best for him for the rest of the tournament.”
Novak Djokovic awaits Alcaraz in the semi-finals after his own comeback gathered pace with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Hubert Hurkacz. Djokovic, who is bidding for a fourth title in Madrid after reaching the final in Belgrade a fortnight ago, offered a warm appraisal of the Spaniard’s virtues.
“Nowadays we are not used to seeing somebody who is teenager and already getting to the top 10 and playing on such a high level,” said the world No 1. “His growth, his improvement, and his journey, particularly the last six months, has been amazing.
“I love to watch him play,” added the Serb. “I praise his game without a doubt. He’s fantastic for our sport. I think it’s great that we have a young player who is doing so well and giving a new fresh breath to the tennis world. Seeing that and knowing that he’s a very nice guy, very humble with good values, is a perfect combination.”
In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Alexander Zverev will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, the world No 5, in a repeat of their recent semi-final meeting in Monte Carlo, where the Greek ran out a straight-sets winner.
Zverev was firmly in control of his quarter-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed, only to squander four break points that would have left him serving for the match. Helped by some wayward serving from the German, who ended the contest with nine double faults, Auger-Aliassime fought back to level the set at 5-5 only to concede a fourth and final break as Zverev ran out a 6-3, 7-5 winner. Tsitsipas too was made to toil for his semi-final berth, overcoming sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 after securing a break in the penultimate game of a battle lasting almost two hours. Zverev is under no illusions about the nature of the challenge that lies ahead.
“Rafa is on his way back and Novak is starting to gain momentum, but right now maybe he’s the best clay-court player in the world,” said Zverev of the Greek fourth seed. “I think I need to play my best level to have a chance, but I’m looking forward to this match because in Monte Carlo he beat me quite easily. I hope I can change that.”