By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Friday, August 2, 2024
Twenty-one-year-old Carlos Alcaraz crushed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 charging into the Olympic gold-medal match as the youngest men's finalist since tennis returned to the Games in 1988.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Labels can be misleading.
Call Carlos Alcaraz a four-time Grand Slam champion, reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon title holder and currently the hottest player in the sport.
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At heart, Alcaraz is a tennis philanthropist.
Today Alcaraz gave an entertaining lesson in artistic annihilation.
In a swirling storm of all-court tennis, the second-seeded Spaniard blew Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime away, 6-1, 6-1 streaking into the Paris Olympic gold-medal match with a historic win.
At 21 years, 91 days, Alcaraz is the youngest player to advance to the men’s singles gold-medal match since tennis returned to the Olympics at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The four-time Grand Slam champion is the fourth Spanish man to reach the Olympic men’s singles final—and first since his hero and doubles partner Rafael Nadal struck gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
After dispensing elegant thrashing, Alcaraz showed compassion for Auger-Aliassime, who had a heavy workload playing multiple matches yesterday.
“Probably obviously I have to say that yesterday was a really tough day for Felxi playing a really tough match in singles, playing mixed double as well, finished late so probably difficult for him to rest,” Alcaraz told NBC’s Britney Eurton. “Probably, he couldn’t give his best tennis physically in the game so I have to say that.
“I have to be focused on myself, on my game I’m really happy with my performance, probably one of my best in this tournament so far. I’m really happy with the feelling and hopefully keep going in the final.”
It’s not often obliterations are entertaining, yet this one was because of Alcaraz’s shotmaking brilliance. Alcaraz dismantled a dangerous server, breaking Auger-Aliassime five times, streaking through seven straight games and leaving the talented Canadian looking a little dazed, depleted and star struck by the end of the match.
You can’t blame Auger-Aliassime, who fought off two-time French Open finalist Casper Ruud in three sets yesterday because Alcaraz in full flow is a force of nature.
It was Alcaraz’s 12th straight victory and now the man who has concluded his Olympic matches kissing the Spanish flag on his shirt will try to deliver the Olympic gold medal to his nation and complete a historic mission.
Alcaraz will face either Grand Slam king and 37-year-old SSerbian superstar Novak Djokovic, in what would be a rematch of their Wimbledon final last month, or stylish 11th-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the gold-medal match.
The top-seeded Djokovic seemed to aggravate his surgically-repaired right knee in his quarterfinal victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas last night, but vowed he will give it a go against Musetti, whom he’s beaten twice in Roland Garros five-setters, at 7 p.m. local time.
If Alcaraz wins, he will make history as the youngest man to win the Olympic singles gold medal—and become the first man since Nadal in 2008 to sweep Roland Garros and the Olympic gold medal the same season. King of clay Nadal collected his fourth Roland Garros crown in 2008 then went on to win the gold in Beijing on hard courts.
“Honestly, it’s gonna be a really special moment for me in my life, in my career so I’m gonna try to enjoy this moment,” Alcaraz told NBC’s Britney Eurton. “Because it’s gonna be really difficult. But it's gonna be special. It’s gonna be difficult for sure.
“I will try to focus on myself and try not to hear all the fans and all the people that say that I’m gonna win. I’m just gonna give my 100 percent my best tennis and hopefully I reach my goal to get the gold.”
On any surface, Alcaraz is an all-court artist.
On this surface, he’s a nightmare for Auger-Aliassime.
A ruthless Alcaraz dropped just seven games to the Canadian in a crushing Roland Garros fourth-round conquest in June.
The good news for Auger-Aliassime in this rematch: He was making nearly every first serve at the outset.
The bad news: Alcaraz was returning serve.
Trying to red-line, Auger-Aliassime missed a diagonal forehand then double-faulted off the tape gifting Alcaraz the early break and a 2-1 lead.
Alcaraz backed up the break at 30 extending his lead to 3-1.
Though Auger-Aliassime sought to exterminate points, Alcaraz is excellent at extending points when he chooses.
A brilliant sliding backhand pass down the line brought a roar from the crowd as Alcaraz again pushed Auger-Aliassime into a deuce service game. The Canadian flattened a forehand into net as Alcaraz broke again for 4-1.
Leave it to Alcaraz to serve-and-volley superhero style. When Auger-Aliassime bulleted a backhand return, a lunging Alcaraz hit a phenomenal full-stretch volley snaring a pass nearly behind his body for a flashy finish for 5-1.
Sharp serving carried Auger-Aliassime through successive Top 10 victories over No. 4-seeded Daniil Medvedev and sixth-seeded Norwegian and former French Open finalist Casper Ruud in yesterday’s quarterfinals.
Today, the Canadian dotting the corners of the service box only to see Alcaraz drive returns and frequently force Auger-Aliassime to play off his back foot.
Auger-Aliassime is an imposing serve—Alcaraz is the sport’s most devastating returner leading the ATP Tour in service breaks (34 percent). Dancing into different return positions at times, Alcaraz let Auger-Aliassime know from the start every service game would be an arduous experience.
Alcaraz unleashed his all-court arsenal scoring his third straight break on an errant Auger-Aliassime forehand to capture a commanding opening set on a six-game surge.
Mixing flamethrower forehands with feather duster drop shots, Alcaraz reeled off his seventh straight game to open the second set.
The scary scenario for Auger-Aliassime: he was playing good tennis and getting obliterated. The Canadian mixed it up, but still found himself down a break point in the fourth game.
Auger-Aliassime hit an apparent ace, but the chair umpire inspected the mark and ruled it wide. For the second time in the match, the Canadian double-faulted away a break as Alcaraz stretched his lead to 6-1, 3-1.
By then, Auger-Aliassime was gazing at his box with his palms up, and a plaintive “what the hell am I supposed to do against this force of nature?” expression painted on his face.
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About the only mistake Alcaraz made in a flawless performance was double-faulting on his first match point.
On his second match point, Alcaraz coaxed an error then thrust his arms in the sky complete an artistic annihilation in one hour, 14 minutes.