Duel of tennis prodigies
Alcaraz rolls over Rune at Wimbledon
By David Needy, Wimbledon
7/12/2023, 7:53 p.m
A fight for the future of tennis is taking place in Wimbledon – and Carlos Alcaraz wins the first round completely hardened. In the quarterfinals he beats Holger Rune in three hard-fought sets. The Spanish prodigy can now emulate Boris Becker.
Carlos Alcaráz Garfia. Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune. These names alone promise an epic duel. That sounds like conquistador vs viking. After tours of conquest and looting. After Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro against Ragnar Lodbrok and Leif Erikson. Fortunately, “only” two tennis pros face each other in Wimbledon and no warriors, no blood is spilled. But the clash between 20-year-old Alcaraz and Rune in the quarter-finals of the classic lawn requires just as much courage and skill and is a trend-setting clash. It’s the duel of the child prodigies. The fight for the future in tennis.
Instead of a battlefield, Center Court is the arena for the battle for the takeover in the afternoon. Alcaraz and Rune lead it from the start with hard-hitting serves, whipping forehands and relentless sprints. In the first quarter-finals of Wimbledon in the Open Era, in which two youngsters under the age of 21 face each other, Rune is five days older, Alcaraz wins 7: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4 in an often high-class and always exciting thriller.
The mentally incredibly strong Spaniard does not give up a single service game and is in the semi-finals of Wimbledon for the first time. “It’s been my dream since I started playing tennis. It’s crazy,” says the overjoyed Alcaraz after the game on the pitch. “I was very nervous at first, but then I played my game and really enjoyed it.”
If not her, who?
At the beginning, Alcaraz amazes even Rune with his forehand whips. The Dane counters with some quality returns – and even a “tweener” where he plays the ball between his legs to score the point. Everything is balanced in the first set. It goes back and forth, but both don’t have a single breakball, also because Alcaraz twice turns 0:30 on their own serve. In the tiebreak, the Spaniard is a tiny bit better, he grabs the first round with a powerful return winner.
The duel of the prodigies – in the middle of the great turning point. Roger Federer is gone. Serena Williams is gone. Rafael Nadal keeps getting injured. Can Alcaraz and Rune fill the gap left by Federer and Nadal (and eventually the almost eternally fit Novak Djokovic)? Will they have a rivalry like the Swiss and the Spaniard over the next 10 to 20 years? Can they dominate the rest of the tennis scene? Too early to judge. But if anyone can emulate the legends, it must be these two youngsters.
From a sporting point of view, the comparison seems more like Djokovic against Nadal because Alcaraz and Rune play so completely and physically strong, especially with enormous footwork. But despite all the titles of the Serbian record champion, Federer and Nadal were even more influential icons – and that’s where the Spaniard (Nadal fan, of course) and the Dane (calls Federer his idol) want to go.
“Holger” against “Carlito” calls
Alcaraz went into the game as the world number one and with a Grand Slam title in his pocket, US Open 2022, of course as a favorite. He is considered the first challenger to defending champion Djokovic. He’s also physically stronger than Rune, and his game is more varied: alongside smashing forehand winners, he relies on razor-sharp volleys and a drop shot that’s almost impossible to read, so late he’s adjusting his grip to undercut the ball. Due to his speed, the Dane runs the stops in this quarter-final excellently.
In the second set, the two don’t give themselves any weakness when they serve. The rallies and games are initially short, intense and explosive. Soon, however, the opponents throw in a long, top-class rally again and again. After such a game, Rune comes out of his shell for the first time at a score of 4: 4, clenches his fist and heats up the spectators. These compete with “Holger” and “Carlito” calls, there is no clear winner there either. With another intensive exchange of blows, Alcaraz fights for the first breakball of the game – which he immediately uses with a forehand winner right on the baseline to make it 5: 4. Wow. Ice cold like Federer or Nadal back then. The world number one follows a clarified service game and also grabs round two.
The solitude on the tennis court is absolute. There is nowhere for a player to hide. Expectations and unhealthy pressures exist in all professional sports. But rarely is an athlete so alone and so completely on his own, surrounded by thousands of frenetic fans, with millions of viewers on the screen, as in tennis, where you can’t show your opponent any weakness. Where demons try to wreak havoc in players’ minds. But Alcaraz and Rune – the quarter-finals confirm the world rankings and show that the Spaniard is still ahead of the Dane here – are already incredibly far mentally as 20-year-olds. Just like their big role models. Best conditions for a Spanish-led takeover. For Alcaraz’s first title at Wimbledon at a young age.
Another who succeeded was Boris Becker. The German ex-professional knew early on how to smash the pressure at the highest level. Mats Wilander, seven-time Grand Slam winner and now a Eurosport expert, promptly compared the triumphs of the two youngsters in Wimbledon with Becker, who celebrated his first triumph in 1985 as a 17-year-old in his later “living room”. “With Alcaraz and Rune we don’t know exactly where they stand. We didn’t think Boris Becker would win in 1985 until he got to the quarter-finals or semi-finals,” Wilander said, adding: “And I think Alcaraz and Rune can do that also.” Only the Spaniard has this chance this year.
The first part is decided, more will come
Rune, however, who was already studying tennis legends on television as a four-year-old, has made a huge leap in a short time, should also attack at the front of Grand Slams in the future and can call his own better backhand compared to Alcaraz. But it’s of no use to the Dane, who is often portrayed as a “bad boy” by experts, but mostly remains calm on the pitch today. Anyway, he’s more of a mama’s boy, without any negative connotations. His mother drives him and determines his career. In the Wimbledon games, she whips him forward, both screaming and gesturing, usually between points. Today Mum is also keeping quiet.
Because in the third round, her son’s opponent can cause a sensation. When the score was 2: 2, Alcaraz grabbed one of these important, because rare, breakpoints in a close fight on the net. Rune then hits a forehand in the net and the Spaniard leads a few minutes later 4: 2. He doesn’t allow a single break point until the end and even if Rune can still fend off a first match point on his own serve, Alcaraz then closes the sack with ice cold . Like a great champion.
This means that the first part of the fight for the future of tennis has been decided. More will be added. The two almost teenagers have known each other since they were young and are good friends. They speak warmly of each other, but the friendship is likely to be tested by competition over the next two decades. And that’s exactly what makes today’s highly competitive match so special: It’s the certainty that this is probably the beginning of a long Grand Slam rivalry and the uncertainty of who will have the upper hand in the coming decades. Can the youngsters take the last steps to become dominators like Federer and Nadal?
It’s clear that Alcaraz and Rune – including 21-year-old Jannik Sinner, who meets Djokovic in the semifinals – don’t feel like waiting for their turn. They push past the older generation to the front of the line. They test the coup live in front of our eyes. A power grab that the Spaniard is currently leading.
When they were 13, Alcaraz and Rune even played doubles together. “It was kind of funny because he didn’t speak English,” Rune said ahead of the quarterfinals. “We had to use sign language to communicate. We didn’t speak much but we understood each other. Hopefully we can play doubles again sometime. But for now we have to fight each other.”
They did. Like conquistadors against Vikings. Luckily without bloodshed and with a deserved winner named Carlos Alcaraz Garfia. He challenges the Russian Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev in the semifinals on Friday. Not a bad name either.