First it was clay. Then came the hard court. And finally, Carlos Alcaraz conquered the grass yesterday, always elusive and at times unapproachable for Spanish tennis. The Murcian, with almost no background on this surface for specialists, won the Queen’s tournament in his first participation after beating a combative Álex de Miñaur in the final. A title that also allows him to regain the number 1 at the gates of Wimbledon to the detriment of Djokovic. “Many legends have won here. It means a lot to me”, said the one from El Palmar about his triumph at the London club, where they also beat the Spaniards Rafa Nadal, Feliciano López and Andrés Gimeno.
Packed to capacity, on an ideal day in London, with only a little wind, the match started with both tennis players extending the good feelings shown during the previous rounds. The Australian, talented but irregular, came into the match after playing the best matches he can remember in a long time, such as the semi-final against Rune. For his part, Alcaraz took advantage of his time at Queen’s to learn the secrets of the herb. He arrived as a beginner, with six matches played on this surface, and left almost as an expert a week before the start of Wimbledon. “I arrive with more energy. It gives me motivation, but it doesn’t change much,” said Alcaraz about his options at the All England Club.
It was not easy for the Murcian in the final against a young opponent, 24 years old, but experienced on the green. The tennis player born in Sydney, of a Spanish mother, moves perfectly on grass, his movements are harmonious and he is right when it comes to choosing the ideal shot in the exchanges. He could not with the oceanic player in his only duel with the Spaniard, which ended in defeat last year at the Comte de Godó Trophy, in a match in which he had two match points, one wasted with everything in his favor.
The player from Murcia did not find cracks in his opponent’s game during the first bars and resisted in the most delicate moments, both from the bottom and the repeated climbs to the net, an area where the Australian has more aplomb. The first set was very similar until the end, when De Miñaur showed off his best weapons. The Australian scraped the first two break points of the match thanks to a great break and the umpteenth duel won near the tape. Alcaraz settled the situation with an ace and a big forehand. Two points that gave him the impetus he needed to break serve in the next game and then close the partial with his serve. From being against the ropes he went on to win the set and from euphoria he went to worry about some discomfort in the right abductor, which in the end was nothing after receiving medical attention.
The second set started again at a thousand revolutions. De Miñaur did not notice the blow and continued to dance on the grass against an Alcaraz who looked for cracks in his opponent from the rest and with the right, his best argument. On this occasion, he saved his usual leave due to the speed of the ocean, which reached every corner. Everything looked set for another close set end, decided by details, but De Miñaur short-circuited in the fifth game. A big break and two double faults gave Ferrero’s pupil an unexpected break. A gift that he did not waste. The Murcian shielded himself in his service, defended with solvency thanks to the first serve, and undermined the resistance of his rival, less and less laughing and more capcot. The tension, the same that soured him against Djokovic at Roland Garros, visited the Spaniard when he was serving to win, with two strange unforced errors that put him at 0-30. But an ace and three service points catapulted him to his first title on grass, another conquest for an Alcaraz who knows no impossible.
