Alcaraz and the data of his historic path in Madrid

New tournament, new precocity milestones. Carlos Alcaraz has gotten used to leaving his mark wherever he goes. He already did it in 2021, at the US Open, for example, becoming the youngest player to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since Michael Chang in 1990. Or in the United States this season, being the youngest champion in Miami and the youngest player ever to reach the semi-finals in both the aforementioned tournament and Indian Wells. His entry into the Top 20 of the ranking, after winning the ATP 500 in Rio, was the fastest since Andrei Medvedev in 1993; his climb into the Top 10, the first for a player 19 or younger since Andy Murray in 2007.

Figures and figures that, moreover, are adorned by mysticism. Charly was placed among the top ten in the world being the youngest to do so since Rafa Nadal in 2005 and, precisely, on the same day as the Balearic Islands, April 25. In Madrid, the Murcian prodigy is giving continuity to the list and the links with his idol, as casual as they are hopeful. “Obviously I relieve that it is. If it is from today or not, I don’t know, we will see it in the months”, explained the winner of 21 Grand Slams after falling in the quarterfinals of the capital. It cannot be summed up better.

Time will tell, but meanwhile, Carlitos, as he likes to be called, keeps giving him reasons to convince him. At just 19 years old, he has become the youngest semi-finalist in the history of Mutua (ahead of Denis Shapovalov, in 2018, at 19 years and 1 month) and, moreover, in a unique way. The prodigy of El Palmar, according to data from the ATP itself, He has earned the honor of being the first player aged 19 or under to beat Nadal on clay and the third-youngest tennis player ever to beat the Balearic Islands on any surfacebehind Borna Coric, aged 17, in Basel 2014, and Shapovalov himself, aged 18, in Montreal 2017. Data that speaks as well of Charly as of Rafa himself, absolute dominator of a surface in which, still in his teens, he was challenged by Jannik Sinner (with a 0-3 record), Richard Gasquet (0-3), Djokovic (0-2), Stefanos Tsitsipas (0-1) or Del Potro (0-1 ).

Immediate appointments with history

Again, Alcaraz as chosen. And, in his hands, more records to beat. In the match against Nole, the oldest semifinalist of the Spanish Masters 1,000 (34 years and 11 months, above Andre Agassi’s 34 and 6 in 2004), the Spanish prodigy could become the youngest player of the twelve who have beaten both Nadal and Djokovic in the same tournament, being the only one to do it on land. In addition, he can also be placed second in the classification of teenagers who have beaten the Serbian (Filip Krajinovic would remain in first place, who got it at 18 years old). On top of that, he would be the youngest player to beat a world number one from Nadal, who beat Roger Federer, in 2005, in the semifinals of Roland Garros, to celebrate his 19th birthday. History demands it.