Alcaraz: "I am a totally different player"

Other evidence of the exponential growth of Carlos Alcaraz could be seen yesterday at the Masters 1000 in Rome. Albert Ramos-Viñolas, a 35-year-old player who knows how to function on clay, where he has won his four titles, had always caused him problems, the biggest in the second round of the last edition of Roland Garros, where he had a match point .

This Saturday, in the first match of his life at the Foro Italico, the man who is already guaranteed to open his third stage as world number 1 starting on the 22nd and arrive as such at Roland Garros, which begins on the 28th, He dispatched his once-complicated opponent 6-4, 6-1, in one hour and 26 minutes, once the hesitant landing was corrected, logical when returning to sea level after being up to par and revalidating the title in Madrid.

Alcaraz's number 1 has been talked about since he endorsed, also in Barcelona, the success of 2022. With the setbacks and absences of Novak Djokovic, who on Friday, in his debut at the Foro Italico, was unconvincing against the Argentine Tomás Martin Etcheberry, it would be enough for the Spaniard to also become strong in Madrid and appear in the last test for the great quote from the clay course.

Under normal conditions, if he had not been injured last October in the quarterfinals at Paris-Bercy against Holguer Rune, missing the end of last season and then the Australian Open, perhaps the Spaniard would have continued in the position he agreed to as the youngest ever after winning the US Open. “In just one year I have grown a lot.. I have the advantage of experience. I have played great games that have made me progress. I would say that in a year I am a totally different player,” he commented at a press conference.

two exits

Alcaraz managed to close 2022 at the head of the ATP, but Djokovic evicted him with his tenth title in Melbourne and displaced him again after the Spaniard lost to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Miami, where he was defending the title.

That it be number 1 again, in what will be its twenty-third week at the top, is something that fell under its own weight. With four titles, Indian Wells, Madrid, Barcelona and Buenos Aires, and two defeats in 32 games, he not only dominates with an iron fist and kid glove, but also widens the gap with the rest of the squad, as that is how he should be classified, without fear of being offended and waiting for Djokovic and Rafael Nadal to deny it, to the rest of the competitors, who look at him from afar without finding a way to mitigate the damage caused by his conception and execution of this game.

Ramos-Viñolas suffered it, in a game that had to be delayed for more than three hours due to the rain. «The first game of a tournament is always complicated, and more when the conditions are not easy. I waited quietly, watching videos and the Moto GP with my coach and a friend who is here, but it was unsettling not knowing if we could play,” said the Spaniard, also referring to the time I needed to wait for the start of the match due to the rain.