Original title: Men’s tennis ushered in the youngest world number one 19-year-old star to win the US Open championship
After the “Big Three” era, there have been only a handful of changes in men’s tennis. On the morning of September 12, Beijing time, in the 2022 US Open men’s singles final, the 19-year-old Spanish star Alcaraz won the championship with a 3-1 victory over Norway’s Rudd, his first Grand Slam victory. At the same time, he became the youngest world number one in men’s tennis. The “Big Three” are getting old, and the tennis history belonging to the younger generation is opening a new chapter.
The two new talents ushered in in this US Open final are eye-catching. Rudd, a player from Northern Europe, is the first Norwegian player to reach the Grand Slam finals. Alcarras, a clay-court player from Spain, made it to the finals only for the second time in his career at the US Open.
This year’s US Open final will be rewarded handsomely. Whoever wins the championship will become the new Grand Slam champion and the 28th world number one in the men’s tennis world. Under the great honor, the two players compete not only for their skills, but also for their ability to withstand pressure. After Alcalás and Rudd each secured serve in the first set, Alcalás found a chance to break serve in Rude’s second serve game. After that, the Spanish star kept the advantage to the end, winning 6 to 4. In the first set, Alcaraz scored 13 winning points.
In the second set, the two sides battled to 2-2. After resolving a break point crisis in the 5th game, Rudd seized the opportunity of Alcaraz’s decline and won the last 4 games in a row, tying the score 6-2. The Norwegian had only 2 unforced errors in this set.
In the third set, Alcalás and Rudd were at a stalemate. Rudd forced 2 counters in Alcaraz’s serve, but failed to win the game. As Rudd’s mentality fluctuated, he made many mistakes in the key points of the tie-break. Alcalás won his first tie-break at the US Open this year. In this US Open, Alcaraz played a total of 5 tie-breaks, and lost all 4 tie-breaks before.
In the fourth set, Alcalás became more and more courageous. Rude held on for two serving games and was broken in the 6th game. Alcalás overcame the problem of the decline of his serve and got the serve. In the end, Alcalás won the ninth game, sealed the victory 6-3, and won the men’s singles championship of this US Open.
So far, Alcaraz, who is competing in the US Open Grand Slam for the second time, has won his first Grand Slam title with his 51st victory this season. He made history and became the youngest world number one since the ATP points system was implemented in 1973, surpassing the record set by Hewitt in 2001 (20 years, 8 months and 26 days). At the same time, he is the youngest Grand Slam champion since Nadal won the French Open in 2005. Nadal was just two days after his 19th birthday when he won the championship. At this US Open, Nadal was eliminated by the host player Tiafoe in the quarter-finals. Djokovic had previously been unable to come to the US Open to start his title defense due to vaccine problems. Swiss player Federer is also getting farther and farther away from the Grand Slam stadium. All these create favorable conditions for Alcalás to ascend to the throne.
Although the men’s tennis world is ready to end the era of the Big Three, it is not clear how much fuel is left in Nadal, Djokovic, and even Federer’s “fuel tank”. Men’s tennis is more willing to see the younger generation really grab their own space from the hands of the former giants. With Alcaraz becoming the fourth Spanish men’s singles world No. 1 after Nadal, Moya and his coach Ferrero, men’s tennis may indeed usher in a new generation of leaders. Starting from Alcalás, we will see more and more post-00 players emerge, who make breakthroughs step by step and lay the foundation for the change of dynasty. (Reporter Chu Peng)