Carlos Alcaraz’s first step shows he’s ready for tennis immortality at Wimbledon

Carlos Alcaraz’s summer won’t be defined by a first-round victory at Wimbledon over Mark Lajal, but it could prove instructive as he attempts a feat only tennis royalty has ever accomplished.

Any list consisting solely of Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic is worthy of mention and, at just 21, Alcaraz is aiming to join them as the only men to have won both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Given that opening salvo in the first match on Centre Court at Wimbledon 2024, he is ready to achieve the ‘Channel Slam’.

There may not be much to read into a straight-sets victory over the world number 262 making his Grand Slam main draw debut, but the final score of 7-6 7-5 6- 2 in two hours and 23 minutes gives an indication that this was not a standard first-round triumph. It had almost nothing to do with Alcaraz and everything to do with Lajal.

Some players are impressed when they step onto Center Court for the first time, let alone when it’s your first Grand Slam match, but the 21-year-old Estonian thrived, rising to the occasion in a display that showed why he is a relatively good player. prospect considered in tennis circles. He would jump around on the grass with a smile on his face, twirl his racket on his finger in a carefree manner between points and excite the crowd every time he pulled off a spectacular winner. None of this felt like an affectation, simply the actions of a man who sincerely believes he belongs at this level.

He held his own against the defending champion with a powerful serve and powerful groundstrokes, but also with the creativity and athleticism that allow him to play well on grass. He fully participated in a series of phenomenal and exhausting rallies that delighted the crowd. On another day, he could easily have won a set and against a weaker opponent, he probably would have won. The standing ovation given to both men at the end was more than deserved.

But Alcaraz is the most elite of the elite and has taken things to a level that even an inspired opponent could not match. Last year he proved he could win on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon and now he has already dismissed any suggestion that his 2023 SW19 exploits were a flash in the pan or that it might take him a while to get back up to speed after stepping off the clay.

If his surprise early exit to Jack Draper at Queen’s has his fans worried, they can consider their concerns allayed. After beating Djokovic in one of the greatest Wimbledon finals of all time last year, he has seemingly picked up exactly where he left off and is immediately back into the groove at the All England Club.

In some ways it’s odd that he won Wimbledon before he did Roland Garros, given his status as Nadal’s heir apparent, but – as he proved once again here – his game might actually be perfect for modern grass-court tennis. It’s easy to forget that this is only his fourth Wimbledon, but he looks as if he grew up on the grass.

Sure, he can strike from the baseline when necessary, but it’s the unique inventiveness and subtlety that comes with the power required that makes him so special. His patented drop shot, so beautifully disguised, regularly caught even the super-athlete Lajal, he contorted himself at odd angles to dig out game-winning volleys with his almost ridiculously deft hands, and he was more than happy to dance. into the net and uses his lightning-fast reactions to become an impenetrable wall.

Lajal was born exactly a week after Alcaraz, making it the second time the Spaniard has faced someone younger than him in a tour match, following a third-round meeting with Juncheng Shang at the Open. Australia in January. The Estonian did not make his opponent look like a veteran about to hang up his racket, but showed brimming youthful energy to cause him many problems in the first set.

Alcaraz put the pressure on in his first three service games, and Lajal finally sealed the third set with a powerful forehand. But Alcaraz showed he had a nose for the big moment by breaking back immediately, having barely challenged Lajal’s serve up to that point. The favourite also immediately broke back to zero again when he lost his serve early in the second set, and it was on these occasions that the outsider came closest to pulling off an upset.

In the closing stages of the first set, Alcaraz dove full length towards the net, sending his racket flying, and although he lost the point, the crowd’s roars of approval seemed to allow him to ride a wave of momentum to a 7-3 tie-break victory.

The second set was just as tight after the first exchanges of breaks but, at 5-5, the Spaniard struggled to come back from 0-40 down, moving his opponent all around the court to seal an improbable break of serve before breaking line 7-5.

It was perhaps this moment that finally broke Lajal’s spirits when he lost his serve early in the third set and from there Alcaraz was finally able to pull away from his opponent and seal a victory in three sets with a 6-2 triumph.

Bigger challenges undoubtedly await on Alcaraz’s road to the ‘Slam of the Channel’, but the ‘Prince of Clay’ appears well on his way to becoming the ‘King of Grass’ as well.