After so much glory and countless accolades, it is always difficult to return to earth, even for Carlos Alcaraz, who after his masterful performance at Wimbledon reappeared in Nice with a long-suffering Hopman Cup victory against David Goffin (4-6, 6-4, 10-8). The Belgian put number 1 on the ropes, but finally the Spaniard tied the tie between Spain and Belgium after winning the final super tie break.
Tennis on clay has nothing to do with his practice on grass and the Murcian confirmed it in Nice, much more erratic and precipitous than usual before an old rocker of the sport of racket, number 111 in the world but still with the quality of a top ten, as he came to be in his day.
Neither the forehand, almost always long, nor his trademark left, nor Alcaraz’s backhand worked at the start of the game, while Goffin hardly made any mistakes and dedicated himself to watching his rival fray. The Belgian took advantage of the stage to take advantage in the fourth game, with a break that he knew how to maintain until he won the first set.
The second set began along the same lines, again giving ground to Alcaraz, who only revealed his recurring smile when he managed to sign one of those unlikely points, insufficient in the face of a sea of ??unforced failures. The Spaniard began to fuel in the middle of the set, at which point a roller coaster of service breaks began that ended up tipping the balance of the set towards the one from El Palmar.
After rowing so much, with the match tied at one set, it seemed that in the super tie break the ghosts of the beginning of the match were visiting Alcaraz again. Goffin started dominating with two mini-breaks that made the score 4-0, but Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil woke up in time to keep Spain alive. Previously, the Spanish Rebeka Masarova lost against the Belgian Elise Mertens (7-6(3) 2-6 10-5).