The future of Tennis has finally arrived. The Carlos Alcaraz era has begun. It was a historic night at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday as Carlos Alcaraz announced his arrival on the biggest stage, winning his maiden Grand Slam title in front of a capacity crowd of 24,000 in New York City. The Spaniard beat Casper Ruud in the US Open Final with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over the Norwegian in three hours and 20 minutes at Flushing Meadows.
With this win, Alcaraz will rise to the top of the ATP standings, becoming the youngest player in history to be ranked number one in the world at 19 years and four months. The Spaniard also becomes the youngest US Open champion since Pete Sampras secured the title in 1990 and the youngest Men’s Grand Slam champion since Rafael Nadal took his maiden French Open crown in 2005 as a 19-year-old.
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Alcaraz’s rise to the top has been entirely predictable to those who followed his young career, and the Spanish phenom has been the most exciting thing to happen to the sport of Tennis since his countryman Rafael Nadal’s meteoric ascent to the global stage nearly two decades ago.
The world number one is the living embodiment of Tennis from the future. He gets to balls most players wouldn’t dream of with his freakish athleticism and can rattle the baseline and corners with ease with his phenomenal ball striking. Alcaraz spent over 23 hours on court at Flushing Meadows, including three five-setters leading up to the final, one of which that stands as the second longest match in US Open history against Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals, lasting five hours and 20 minutes.
However, despite the three marathon encounters, the Spaniard showed no signs of slowing down against Ruud in the final, raising his level as the game wore on to sink the new world number two. ‘There’s no time to be tired at a Grand Slam,’ said Alcaraz after the final. It seems like the young 19-year-old is in a hurry to ascend the throne, and considering how he has been playing throughout the year, there are a precious few players capable of stopping him.
The Spaniard has recorded the most wins amongst anyone on the ATP Tour in 2022 and has now finally backed that up at a Grand Slam, making his maiden trip to the semis, and finals, and winning the whole thing at the same event. Young players aren’t meant to be so good so quickly – if your name isn’t Rafael Nadal – but Alcaraz is rewriting the rules of the sport, warping the expectations of what is possible from someone who wasn’t even born when Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam.
The 2022 US Open ushered in a new era of Tennis with 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz winning his maiden Grand Slam on the men’s side while Iga Swiatek cemented her status as the world number one with her first hard court major’s title in New York. Since Ash Barty’s surprise retirement in March 2022, Swiatek has dominated the woman’s tour, winning her second French Open title at Roland Garros earlier this year before following it with a victory at Flushing Meadows.
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After her resounding win over Ons Jabeur in the US Open final, Swiatek holds the top spot in the WTA rankings with 10,365 points. The Pole has also opened up a 5,275-point lead over world number two, Jabeur, the widest margin between the top two seeds in the sport in over seven years.
With seven titles and a 57-7 record this year, it’s been a dominating campaign for Swiatek in 2022, and just like Carlos Alcaraz on the men’s side, the Pole’s maiden title in New York is likely to be the first of many.
[Featured Image Credit: VAS Sports]
Shivaan Shah