With the strength of an ocean liner and with the tranquility and calm of a samurai, Carlos Alcaraz storms into the Wimbledon final. He soundly defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev (6-3, 6-3 and 6-3). Photo EFE
With the strength of an ocean liner and the tranquility and calm of a samurai, Carlos Alcaraz enters the Wimbledon final. He soundly defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev (6-3, 6-3 and 6-3) and follows in the footsteps of Manolo Santana (1966) and Rafael Nadal (five consecutive finals between 2006 and 2011) as Spaniards who played the final match in the All England Club.
Alcaraz, in his first semifinals at Wimbledon, gave the feeling of having been in this match many other times. He floated over the track to bring down the Russian giant, dwarfed by a force of nature that comes from Murcia and who will be in the final against Novak Djokovic who defeated Jannik Sinner in three sets, the most desired by everyone in London, by the players, at least on the part of Alcaraz, by the organizers and, above all, by the public.
There was a question in the air as to whether the Spaniard could handle the pressure of other semifinals, after what happened at Roland Garros, when cramps destroyed his tournament, but this time it was Medvedev who was in front, not the ogre Djokovic. The Russian, as much as he boasts his status as a Grand Slam winner at a time when they are scarce, did not have the stripes to compete with the best in the world.
Medvedev held the stake six games. He held himself between the drop shots and the attacks on the second serve of the Spaniard, who had prepared this tactic along with his brother Álvaro’s in the morning, until Alcaraz set up a perfect game against the Muscovite’s powerful serve.
With two winning returns, both on the Russian’s second serve, he broke his serve and made it 5-3. At the closing moment, when the racket trembles the most, Alcaraz held the service without Medvedev being able to subtract a single ball from him.
After losing the first set, the man from Moscow went to the bathroom, to cut the rhythm of the match, but Alcaraz, to kill time, went to his side of the court in little jumps, almost with joy. Different attitudes and prediction of what was going to happen next.
There was only a small relaxation, in Alcaraz’s first serve in the second set, when he committed a double fault and allowed the Russian the first break option in the entire match. How did he respond? With a direct serve. And it is over.
The downpour came. In London, because of the rain, and in the plant, because of the sticks that fell to Medvedev. On either side. After saving the breaking ball, Alcaraz did not concede more. He broke into the next game and the show started.
Incredible point at the net, with three straight shots from pure reflex, and another second-serve attack to leave the second set in favor.
2-0 on the scoreboard, a result that Alcaraz has never missed and that Medvedev has only lifted twice. This was not going to be the third. The Spaniard actually flirted with the embarrassing victory, because he got 3-0 and sniffed another break.
That’s where the doubts came, the logical fear of being so close to joining a historic Wimbledon finalist club. He gave in twice, I took it out of him, he gave life to the Russian, but he took it from him at once. Shaking his head on the bench, aware of his mistakes and his nerves, he responded to each Medvedev break with another, and when he had to serve to seal the pass, he didn’t falter.
With a forehand ‘passing’ and his arms in the air, Alcaraz is a Wimbledon finalist, as was Santana, Nadal, Conchita Martínez, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Garbiñe Muguruza in his day.
He will face Djokovic, the man he beat in the semifinals of the Masters 1,000 in Madrid in 2022 and against whom he lost at Roland Garros a little over a month ago.
Now the movie will be different, the pressure is on the Serb’s side, who is looking for his eighth title and twenty-fourth Grand Slam. Djokovic is the great favourite, Alcaraz, the contender. The solution, on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. local time on center court at the All England Club.
DAMAS
The Spanish Sara Sorribes, along with the Czech Marie Bouzkova, fell in the Wimbledon doubles semifinals against the Czech Barbora Strycova and the Chinese Taipe player Su-Wei Hsieh 6-4, 6-1.
Sorribes and Bouzkova, in their first Grand Slam semifinals, showed their faces in the first set, where they rose from 3-0 against and had a 15-40 with 4-4 that would have put them in a position to serve to win the first part.
Hsieh and Strycova, much more experienced and with a title here in 2019, will face the Australian Storm Hunter and the Belgian Elise Mertens in the final, third favorite couple for the title, and who beat Caroline Dolehide and Shuai Zhang by a double 6 -1. EFE