The Murcian wants to continue delighting in Wimbledon
MADRID, 13 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev this Friday afternoon in the Wimbledon tournament, the third ‘Grand Slam’ of the season and which is played on grass in London, in search of what would be the second final of his career in a ‘big’, after having won the US Open last year.
Thus, Alcaraz will face off against Medvedev for the third time on the professional circuit. The first was in 2021, on these same courts, with a victory for the Muscovite in three resounding sets. But in the last meeting between the two, this same season, the Murcian was able to easily prevail in the final of the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells.
The one from El Palmar is having a clear progression in the London contest. After a comfortable debut against the French veteran Jérémy Chardy, he suffered a little more in the second and third respectively against the Frenchman Alexandre Müller and against the Chilean Nicolás Jarry, with whom he lost a set.
He also gave it up in the round of 16 to the Italian Matteo Berrettini (finalist of this tournament in 2021), although he later came back excellently. In the quarterfinals he faced his great generational rival, the Danish Holger Rune, in the first confrontation between the two in a ‘Grand Slam’.
Despite appearing nervous during the opening set, as Alcaraz himself admitted in post-match interviews, the Murcian showed a formidable and accurate rally, surpassing the offensive display of the Dane in three sets and signing a level that not even he himself had yet shown on grass.
In his next round he will face a Medvedev who will experience the first ‘semi’ of his life at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. Despite not arriving as one of the favorites due to his historically low level on grass, the Russian is having a good tournament, although he has not had to deal with highly ranked opponents.
In his quarterfinal date he suffered to defeat the American Christopher Eubanks in five sets, a great server but with deficiencies in his game from the baseline. It is the opposite of the usual style of the Murcian, who will be the first seed that Medvedev faces in this edition.
After winning at Queen’s, Alcaraz comes into this duel with 10 consecutive victories on grass, ignoring his little experience on such a surface. He finds himself more and more comfortable, with more natural movements and getting better at blows, something that in the first rounds conditioned him a lot since he had not perfected it.
Medvedev is by no means a specialist, with unflattering characteristics for the pitch. For this reason, he makes up for his displacement problems with an accurate serve, achieving a whopping 57 direct serves; 28 of them were in the quarterfinals, winning 79% of the points with his first serve, 63% with his second.
The great strength of the Moscow player is being the security of his game, as he is barely making unforced errors. He accumulated in that statistic only 13 in the quarterfinals and 12 in the round of 16, something that he will have to repeat against Alcaraz so as not to make the world number 1’s job easier.
Alcaraz is being pristine at 20 years old in the English capital, with an impeccable forehand that is getting better and serving better at all times. Against Medvedev he will deal with an uncomfortable player, but his direct style and his variety of shots will be an asset to exploit, since the Russian suffers against those who make him run and deny him the incentive.