Carlos Alcaraz – the adrenalin rush men’s tennis needs?

Is Carlos Alcaraz just what the men’s tennis needed at the moment? It seems so with the surge of excitement that the Spanish 19-year-old has created – keeping his date with the US Open crown and the men’s world No.1 spot on Sunday.

It’s not as if the current year has been lacking in drama in men’s tennis. If Novak Djokovic made the headlines on the eve of Australian Open with his anti-Covid-19 vaccine stance and then win his 21^st slam at the Wimbledon, it also saw Rafa Nadal cracking the long standing record of Roger Federer’s 20 grand slam titles. And yet, it’s the youngster from Murcia, Spain who remained the biggest talking point in men’s tennis throughout the year because of his precocious talent.

Soon after winning the Madrid Open in May – his fourth title of the season at that point – Alcaraz said in an interview to Argentina’s La Nacion that he nursed two major dreams. If one was that of claiming the world No.1 spot, the other being ‘not afraid’ to say that he was ready to win his first grand slam. The precocious teenager’s claims were backed by solid credentials as he had already beaten the ‘Big Two’ of Djokovic and Nadal on clay.

The bet was on whether the ‘handover’ of clay supremacy – to quote Nadal himself – would happen in the French Open itself. Alcaraz started strongly enough on his favourite surface before his dreams were cut short by Alexander Zverev in the quarter final. Fortunately enough, the Spaniard didn’t have to wait long as he staved off Casper Ruud in a marathon four-setter final to become the youngest men’s world number one.

It was a just reward for the hard work that Alcaraz and his team had put on since the end of last season on his physique – added to the oodles of natural talent he is born with. If the final against Ruud was a testimony that the Spaniard now has what it takes to land his first slam, the match which took the breath away of tennis fans was his five hour, 15-minute slugfest against Jannik Sinner in the quarter final – one of the longest matches in the history of the hardcourt slam.

What eventually made the difference for Alcaraz, who was playing as a qualifier around the same time last year? “My team and I know how important it is to be strong physically,’’ he told ATP, whose transformation owed a lot to former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, another Spanish master of the claycourt, and his backroom mentor.

A piece of statistic sums up what Alcaraz endured on the way to win what could be the first of his many slams. He spent 20 hours and 20 minutes on court before Sunday’s final and added another three hours and 20 minutes to his tally to finish on 23 hours and 40 minutes.

What eventually made the difference for Alcaraz, who was playing as a qualifier around the same time last year? “My team and I know how important it is to be strong physically,’’ he told ATP, whose transformation owed a lot to former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, another Spanish master of the claycourt, and his backroom mentor.

Photos from the ATP Challenger Tour in August 2019 revealed a scrawny, then-16-year-old Alcaraz barely filling his green match shirt during a tournament in Italy. Even coming out of lockdown in 2021, ‘Carlitos’ was still relatively slim – till a striking transformation took over when he adorned the cover of Men’s Health Spain magazine in it’s March issue this year.

“I enjoy the gym. I have been concentrating on every part of the body. I concentrate 100 per cent on the work, my biggest focus is on the legs. This is very important,” Alcaraz said earlier this year. And the effort has certainly yielded the results.

The biggest plus in Alcaraz’s fledgling career graph so far is how quickly he has bridged the gap between promise and delivery. His arrival could not have been better-timed when Djokovic is the last of the Mohicans holding fort, an injury-ravaged Nadal having serious doubts about life on the Tour next year and the Swiss master looks set to sign off after the Laver Cup.

For long, men’s tennis had been waiting on the pretenders to the throne. Finally, there is a boy who has already taken over the mantle of the king. Now, the challenge for him is to keep them coming…