Alcaraz returns to the courts and tennis smiles. Now that the summer period hints at its final stretch, the one in which a pleasant coolness appears, the long winter in which racket sports have lived since last April 14 ends, when the right wrist of the Spanish tennis player said enough in Barcelona and forced him to stop abruptly; it was that, or perhaps a disaster. Since then, a rather bland panorama because the absence of the Murcian created a great void, only compensated by another of those majestic accelerations by Jannik Sinner. Except for Roland Garros, victories and more victories for the Italian, now sidelined due to a knee injury.
Today’s tennis wreaks havoc — a season full of setbacks — and shortly after the clay court tour began, it took Alcaraz. In the end, it will be four and a half months of absence, since the one from El Palmar hoped to return in Cincinnati (mid-month) and in doubt preferred to postpone the return a couple of weeks more. The US Open will start on Sunday and will be the setting for a long-awaited and even begged return, since without the contribution of the Spaniard, tennis had been left lame and the script has proceeded predictably, more or less flat: lots of fireworks, frustrated contenders, and no top player who has truly stepped up.
In the absence of reliability, consistent and truly appealing figures, the remarkable rise of Rafa Jódar —152 places, currently 13th— has occurred and now the return of the greatly desired one. It happens in New York, a very pleasant memory for Alcaraz, crowned for the first time in 2022 and also a year ago, when he completed his most splendid run in a major. It remains to be seen now in what condition he reappears, whether he does so with more or less rhythm and how far his fuel tank goes; above all, to verify how the wrist responds to the demands of competition, considering that rehearsals are one thing and tournaments, quite another.
Over the past month, Alcaraz has been intensifying his preparation and, although he could well have returned in Cincinnati —“then I was at 90%, almost convinced,” says someone close to him— he does so now in Flushing Meadows and in the friendly (fun, clearly) context of mixed doubles; a kind of experiment implemented last season whose goal is nothing other than to maximize the product: more days, higher ticket sales, greater income. In any case, this edition has served to align the Murcian and the legendary Williams, who at 44 years old —21 years older than her partner, born in 2003— wanted to give herself a grand rentrée: first Wimbledon, now a home parade.
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The pyrotechnic combination brings the young Spaniard back to the forefront, who will continue to get match practice over the next few days and will soon replace simulations in Murcia —indoors first, outdoors later— with the real fire of New York. When he was born, Serena was number one in the world and had already won five of her 23 majors; Alcaraz has seven, wrapped in a purple sleeveless shirt, with a trendy hairstyle, a compression sleeve on his right arm, and he began the match against the Briton Glasspool and the New Zealander Routliffe —two proven doubles players— with a double fault and without the accuracy that characterizes him; logically, lacking spark. A minor evil.
He quickly caught the electric leadership of the American and they came back with a streak of seven consecutive games, after having saved two set points: 5-3 and 4-1, in 58 minutes.
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