By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday July 4, 2023
The 20-year-old Spaniard hit past veteran Frenchman Jeremy Chardy to open accounts at SW19.
Photo Source: Getty
As he begins his third appearance in Wimbledon’s main draw, Carlos Alcaraz is still supposed to be cutting his teeth as a grass court player.
Tuesday’s opening round clash with Frenchman Jeremy Chardy on No.1 Court was just his 12th match on the surface, after all.
Call him a fast learner.
Alcaraz zoomed past Jeremy Chardy, 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 under the closed roof on a rainy Tuesday in Southwest London, booking his spot in the second round and increasing his winning streak to six.
According to Opta Ace, Alcaraz is the youngest player to reach 30 Grand Slam wins since Novak Djokovic in 2007, and only three players – Mats Wilander, Rafael Nadal and Boris Becker – reached 30 Slam wins faster than he did in the last 40 years.
This year’s Queen’s Club champion has won his last 13 sets on grass. He improves to 41-4 on the season and will face either Arthur Rinderknech or Alexandre Muller in the second round.
Top-seeded Alcaraz, bidding to become the fifth player in Open Era history to win multiple major titles before turning 21 at Wimbledon, cracked 38 winners against 14 unforced errors and didn’t slow down until 36-year-old Chardy mounted a late push to make the third set competitive.
It was.
But it didn’t matter as Alcaraz broke late to close out the contest in one hour and 53 minutes, sending the former World No.25 into retirement
Chardy, doubling as the coach of Ugo Humbert at Wimbledon, finishes a career that features 298 wins, including 12 against the Top 10, and a title.
“I think I played really well at the beginning of the match,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “In the third set, he found his level. I was in trouble, but I like to play rallies, I like to play battles, and I’m really happy to have played a great level.”