At the moment of great triumph, everything fell away from Carlos Alcaraz. The young Spanish star threw his racket aside and dropped to the ground, stunned. Then he found some strength and ran into his box, where he hugged his friends, family and coach. But the overjoyed tennis pro would have preferred to hug the whole world.
The 19-year-old won his first Grand Slam title and became the youngest world number one in tennis history. Alcaraz beat Norway’s Casper Ruud (23) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in the final of the US Open in New York for a double reward: he claimed his maiden victory in his first Grand Slam final and replaced Russia’s Daniil Medvedev as world number one.
“This is something I’ve always dreamed of, to be the world number one and a champion at a Grand Slam,” Alcaraz said. “It’s hard for me to talk about it right now. I have a lot of emotions. “
Youngest number one of all time
There has never been a younger number one than Alcaraz on the men’s side. The exceptional talent is also the first teenager since compatriot Rafael Nadal in 2005 (French Open) to triumph at a Grand Slam tournament. The last time there was a younger winner at the US Open was 32 years ago with the American Pete Sampras. One of the first congratulators was Nadal via Twitter: “This is the highlight of your first great season, I’m sure there will be many more to come. “
For the victory, Alcaraz collects a prize money of 2.6 million US dollars. The defeated Ruud, who could have been the first Norwegian to become a Grand Slam tournament winner and world number one, can console himself with 1.3 million US dollars. A minute’s silence was observed before the first serve at Arthur Ashe Stadium in front of a crowd of about 24,000 on the anniversary of the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001.
“It’s going to get on your nerves – and we’re both going to feel it,” Ruud had said before the match. Both young stars indeed started nervously, with Alcaraz feeling the enormous strain of the previous six games with a total playing time of 20:19 hours in the second set. But the Spaniard fought his way back successfully.
