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Carlos Alcaraz: The new tennis champ from Murcia who beat Nadal and Djokovic
The local Murcia star who beat the world no. 1 and is giving Nadal a run for his money as Spain’s top tennis star
Carlos Alcaraz has won the Madrid Open. The young tennis player from Murcia won the Spanish capital’s tennis championship after beating Alexander Zverev, last year’s winner, in two sets (6-3, 6-1), in a historic final which barely lasted more than an hour but in which the Spaniard managed to stake his place as the hope of the future of Spanish tennis.
Originally from Murcia city, Alcaraz has had a spectacular rise to fame recently. At just 19 years of age, he beat world number 4 Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open 2022, and world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to reach the last round, where he beat his German opponent, who was world number 3, convincingly.
He becomes the first player since Nalbandian in 2007 to beat three of the world’s top four players at a Masters 1000, and has now equalled Nadal in winning both the major tennis tournaments held in Spain, the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell-Trofeo Conde de Godó and the Mutua Madrid Open, in the same year. They are the only two tennis players to have achieved this feat.Nadal did it three times – in 2005, 2013 and 2017 – before going to Roland Garros, where he also conquered the Parisian Grand Slam.
Alcaraz himself will be playing at Roland Garros next week, foregoing the Italian Open in Rome in order to make an appearance in the French capital fully rested and ready to follow in the footsteps of Nadal.
He’s not renouncing all things Italian, though. Curiously, Alcaraz has confessed to eating the same pasta dish before all his matches.
“An hour and a half before a match, I eat pasta with 100% cocoa cream, dates and olive oil to give me energy,” he said.
The eyes of Murcia, Spain and the world will now be on the young upstart to see what he can make of himself at Roland Garros and Wimbledon 2022 and beyond.
Image 1: Carlos Alcaraz
Image 2: Novak Djokovic
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