There is no place like home. It cannot be said that Carlos Alcaraz will return to Murcia this Thursday, because he has never left. In fact, in recent months he has increased his public appearances in his hometown and is increasingly using the facilities of his longtime club, Real Sociedad Club de Campo de El Palmar, to train. This Christmas weekend, without going any further, he has worked at the Alcaraz family club (his uncle Tomás is the president and his father is the director of the tennis school). But what Carlitos was missing was playing in front of the Murcian public. And that is what he will finally do this Thursday at the Palacio de los Deportes in the capital, in an exhibition with Roberto Bautista Agut from Castellón that will begin around 8:30 p.m. The event has been given the name 'Copa Alcaraz'.
The 'Alcarazmania' is completely unleashed in Murcia, as could already be seen on December 12, when the 7,500 seats on sale were sold out in less than two hours. Many fans were left waiting in the virtual queue and the organization, which is run by the General Directorate of Sports of the Autonomous Community, assures that this exhibition match between Alcaraz and Bautista could have filled “three Palaces.” The expectation is maximum
The prices go along, of course. The cost of the seats was set at five and ten euros, depending on the proximity of the town to the tennis court that is going to be installed on the premises. All proceeds will go to charity. Many fans will have to watch it on TV, since there were problems acquiring tickets. Some reported that once they were at the payment gateway, the page collapsed and returned them to the front of the queue. Others reported that, due to the large volume of people on the website, it was difficult to make the purchase, since once the available seats had been selected, a message appeared informing them that they had already been purchased by other people.
A complete party
All of this is fertile ground for resale and tickets are already being offered online for this Thursday's Alcaraz-Bautista for 40 and 50 euros. On well-known portals there are already people from different parts of Spain trying to earn extra money with tickets to this exhibition match, the first that Carlos Alcaraz has played in Murcia since he became a tennis professional.
THE PROGRAM
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5:30 p.m.
Opening of doors of the Murcia Sports Palace. -
6:30 p.m.
Wheelchair tennis match between Pachequero Kike Siscar and Jorge Iglesias from Madrid. -
7:30 p.m. approx.
Mixed doubles with four promising young regional tennis players. Rafa Segado, Pablo Martínez, Alba Rey and Ariana Geerlings. -
8:30 p.m. approx.
Exhibition match between Carlos Alcaraz and Roberto Bautista.
The General Directorate of Sports, with the collaboration of the Murcia City Council and the Murcia Tennis Federation, intends for this event to become a great regional tennis festival. And that is why it has scheduled two very special matches that will be played before Alcaraz-Bautista. The doors of the Palace will open at 5:30 p.m. and an hour later the wheelchair tennis match will begin between the pachequero Kike Siscar and the Madrid native Jorge Iglesias, two of the best Spanish players in this modality. Afterwards, a mixed double will take place in which four of the main young talents in regional tennis will participate: Pablo Martínez from Murcia, Rafa Segado from Cartagena, Alba Rey from Aquiline and Ariana Geerlings from Granada based in Murcia.
Alcaraz, who the day before will play another exhibition against Novak Djokovic in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), will arrive with just enough time to face Bautista in front of the Murcian public. Both duels will help the El Palmar player to continue oiling his tennis ahead of the first big goal of the season: the Australian Open, which will start on January 14.
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