Carlos Alcaraz continued his fine form of 2024, chasing his third title of the year. The Spaniard has a win percentage of over 80%, reaching the semifinals of the Argentina Open while winning the Indian Wells Open and French Open in the process.
The 21-year-old Spanish giant has faced top 10 players eight times this year, defeating Alexander Zverev in two of three clashes, and Jannik Sinner in both clashes, both coming in the semifinals. Carlos Alcaraz also bested Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, his second loss of the year against a top 10 player coming against Andrey Rublev in the Madrid Open quarterfinal.
Carlos Alcaraz Defeats Vukic In 2nd Round
Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon title defense is still on track after defeating Aleksandar Vukic in the second round of the tournament. If anyone joined the match, watching from the second and the third set of the match, the person would never know how close Vukic was to shocking the defending champion.
Carlos Alcaraz had comfortably led 5-2 in the first set before watching helplessly as Aleksandar Vukic fought his way back to a 5-6 lead, about to serve for the set. Alcaraz then broke back and overcame the Australian in the resulting tiebreak. The Spaniard then closed all the holes that made that possible, winning the second and third sets 6-2 each.
Throughout the 108-minute clash, Carlos Alcaraz didn’t hold back with his convincing drop shot technique that the entire ATP hasn’t been able to develop an answer to just yet. Together with his fierce forehand that was part of why he hit 40 winners in the match.
Alcaraz would be chasing his fourth Grand Slam title, which would double as his first Grand Slam title defense and the first time he’s won two Grand Slam titles in a row. He’d also be the first, if successful, to defend a Grand Slam title and win two in a row outside of the “Big Three.”
Before the match, Carlos Alcaraz had expressed his desire to live up to the standards set by the Big Three, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.
“I want to be one of the best in history. I am dreaming that big. I want to sit [at] the same table as the ‘Big Three’, legends of our sports.”
“You Could Tell He Was Going To Be Special.”
After digging it out with Libema Open finalist, Sebastian Korda, in the Wimbledon first round, Aleksandar Vukic knew his second round clash with Carlos Alcaraz was going to be the test of the year for him. Both players had never met in the main draw of an ATP tour-level tournament before.
The first time they met each other was in the first round of qualifying in the 2020 edition of the French Open. Aleksandar Vukic came from a set down to defeat the then 17-year-old Spanish sensation. Fast forward four years after and Alcaraz won the 2024 French Open.
“I remember first seeing him when I played him at French Open qualifying in 2020. I think he was 17 or something. You could tell he was going to be special. There was a lot of hype around him. I actually won that match. I saved a match point there and beat him in the first round.
“But there was so much hype and you could just tell he had that raw power to him. And age 17, he was destroying the ball. It was obvious something was going to happen. I think two years after that he was World No. 1. It is just a crazy rise.”
In the post-match interview following his Wimbledon win, Carlos Alcaraz understood the competition he had faced from Aleksandar Vukic and how difficult the Australian made it for him to round up the first set.
“I am really happy with my performance today, the level that I played. In the first set, it was the key for me to match, it was really close but after that I think I played a really good tiebreak. Second and third sets I played at a high level so I am really happy about it.
“It was difficult for me to close the set. For him, he was going to be the same. I had to be there to put a few returns to him, winners. It was really good for me in a tough time. In those situations you have to increase your level, be aggressive. That’s all I thought in that situation and it was really helpful for me.”
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