The Murcian, immeasurable again, gets into the final of the Masters 1000 in Madrid after knocking down the number 1 in the world in an anthological semifinal (6-7, 7-5 and 7-6)
Carlos Alcaraz has turned what is an anomaly into something normal. The boy, who has his whole life ahead of him, moves around the circuit as if each game were his last. He plays every point as if it were his last. It’s like he doesn’t have a minute to waste, even though he just turned 19 and is still learning the trade. The profession of champion. Do not confuse. The tennis player already knows it by heart. Only in this way can it be understood that a newcomer like him has done in the last 24 hours what a single player had done until now: beat Nadal and Djokovic consecutively in the same tournament. The only one who had achieved it until this Saturday was the Argentine David Nalbandián. And it was on hard court. On clay, nobody had done it.
In front was the number one, a Novak Djokovic who is only four victories away from a thousand in a legendary sports career. The Serbian has had an unspeakable start to the season, with the Melbourne grotesque ruining a start to 2022 that was presumed fruitful for him. However, the man from Belgrade is a cannibal: a legendary tennis player. And little by little he has been warming up. In Madrid, from less to more, he was taking small steps until facing his first face-to-face with Alcaraz in optimal conditions.
He lost the first game of the Nole match, cold with his serve, and the Manolo Santana Stadium roared as if the set was already being decided. Alcaraz, as always happened with Nadal, was seen from the first point very supported by the public of the Caja Mágica. 12,500 throats pushing the Murcian tennis player Davis Cup style. This could scare any tennis player in the world, but not Djokovic. Unlike. The Serbian moves like a fish in water in this type of context. He is not daunted.
In fact, when he won the decisive points that gave him the first set in a playoff that he dominated from the beginning, he challenged the Madrid public with his usual catalog of shouts, gestures and more or less elegant celebrations. He’s trailing the Serbian champion and has been fallow for a long time. Djokovic has been number one in the world for 368 weeks and no one gives that to you.
Nole’s calm
In the first set, which was a tennis recital by both, the Serbian won the tie-break because he was more serene in the decisive moments (6-7). In the second the best Alcaraz emerged, much more brazen than the day before against Nadal and crushing a Djokovic who did not know how to bother him with the rest. Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil realized that he had to get on the track and shorten the points. And that he did (7-5).
In the third the Murcian continued to fly, avoiding long exchanges. In these, most of the time Djokovic prevailed. As Alcaraz changed his strategy he began to put a lot of pressure on the Serbian on the rest. Several times he was on the verge of breaking her serve, but when he had it the best it was in the tenth game of the third set. 4-5 and 30-40 for the Murcian. match point. The stands went crazy. Too much yelling and too much time for Djokovic to think what he was going to do. He didn’t shake his hand. Ace. He continued rowing the number one and, with difficulties, forced the jump-off. 6-6 after three and a half hours of a match for posterity and everything was going to be decided in a ‘tie-break’.
With a sidereal parallel setback, Alcaraz added fifty winners in the game, which was 3-1 in sudden death. Djokovic responded with three lashes from another planet and again the Murcian took advantage with a parallel right hand only within the reach of the chosen ones. 4-2 in a change of lane that Alcaraz made on the run, for that of intimidating the rival. He subtracted twice in a row at the feet of the Serb and with 5-4 in favor of the Murcian he had to serve the Serb twice. He threw out the first and nailed the second. 6-5 for Alcaraz and serve. He put it in the backhand, took Djokovic off the court and executed him with a forehand that closed out a match to remember for a lifetime (7-6). Nadal fell. Djokovic fell. Carlitos now only has to defeat Zverev or Tsitsipas in the final this Sunday and culminate a glorious week in Madrid.
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