The Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, current 4th in the ATP, made history this Sunday by winning his first Grand Slam title at the US Open, after beating the norwegian Casper Ruud (7°), and also become number one in the youngest world ranking in history.
On the Artur Ashe court, the Murcian took victory after three hours and 20 minutes party, for partials of 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1) and 6-3.
He was coming from three matches to five sets, against Cilic, Sinner and Tiafoe respectively, but the 19-year-old talent did not let up on perhaps the biggest night of his career and showed all the power he had already displayed during the tournament.
He won the final with authority, character and spectacular tennis that propelled him to the top of the tennis world and made him the sixth representative of Spanish tennis capable of placing himself at the head of the world ranking.
“Carlitos” also demonstrated that mental preparation was key to face this match. He took over the first set and although the Scandinavian equalized the score in the next chapter, he was soon on the attack again despite the fact that physical wear seemed to be present.
In the third set he had to take until the tie break to get ahead again, and when he reached the fourth he didn’t let up either. He did not shake Alcaraz’s arm, who took advantage of his first and only break ball to provoke Ruud’s backhand miss and escape 4-2. There was no longer any way to contain the Murcian, who fired up the level of his serves and sentenced the duel with a 6-3, connecting two service winners.
Thus, Alcaraz conquered the American Grand Slam, passing to be the youngest champion of the competition when Pete Sampras did it in 1990. He put the icing on the cake of an extraordinary season and after winning the Masters 1,000 in Miami and Madrid and the titles in Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro, he added the US Open to his showcases.