At Philippe Chatrier, the wind blows and eddies form that condition the match, rarefy it. The clay gets in the eyes of the tennis players and their vision is blurred.
For some, all this does not prove much.
Ask Daniïl Medvédev, the illustrious candidate who lost yesterday, defeated by the surprising Thiago Seyboth Wild.
In front of the press, on Tuesday evening, the Russian said:
– When the clay season ends I am happy. I don’t like to eat sand. Maybe some people like to have soil in their pockets, in their shoes, in their white socks that they then have to throw in the trash. I am happy when this phase ends.
The wind continues to blow in Paris on Wednesday.
At some point in his match, Carlos Alcaraz (20) took the bottom of his shirt to his eyes. Dirt had gotten into him, it was sticking to his eyelids. The circumstances had caused Alcaraz-Taro Daniel in the second round, apparently asymmetrical and very much in favor of Murcia, to enter a strange phase.
Without almost losing his hair, as had happened on Monday in the Alcaraz-Cobolli, the Murcian had won the first race and seemed to be riding on Paris.
Alcaraz had been fire. He likes to start big, dominate the opponent, appropriate the stage and the game.
He had made Taro Daniel run, a fan running from one side of the court to the other, lateral runs topped off with an impossible forward run, desperate for another drop from Alcaraz.
6-1 in the first set.
The Japanese (30 years old, currently 112th in the world) seemed to suffer from stage fright. Taro Daniel had shrunk, he had felt the weight of Alcaraz’s right hand blows.
However, after that the match had entered a confused phase. Alcaraz let go, the Japanese entered the game, perhaps he had already seen himself lost, and then he had let go of his arm.
And just as he was breaking Alcaraz’s serve, the hose was pointed.
– It was very hard to play with this wind – Alcaraz will reveal later.
At the foot of the track, I would say it to Àlex Corretja, in a conversation between the two of them in English.
Before the talk, the Murcian had had to redo himself. Rest in the corner to think, retrieve your tools. What would come next would be a storm, a storm over Taro Daniel, who was already disappearing from the match, neither wind nor confusion, Alcaraz in his pure state controlling all the keys, the services to the T, or angled, the leaves and the volleys , a step forward through two flawless sets.
Tomorrow, in the third round, Alcaraz faces Denis Shapovalov, a really uncomfortable opponent.
