Sometimes tennis players say much more on the court than they do in front of the microphones. They speak with their attitude and their gaze, with their shots and their character. And sometimes, there are very powerful messages, wake-up calls, warnings to the rest of the circuit. And the ATP 500 in Doha, which crowned Carlos Alcaraz, was a clear statement of intent from the number one: if they let me fly, I won’t leave a crumb behind; if they give me free rein, I’ll sweep everything away.
On paper, no one could have been surprised that Alcaraz won the title in the Persian Gulf, crushing Arthur Fils, the great hope of French tennis, 6-2, 6-1 in the final. After all, Alcaraz was the big favourite even before the draw: he is the undisputed number one, he had just swept the Australian Open and, on top of that, Doha did not have a very threatening line-up. On his way to the title, Alcaraz did not face any top ten players and avoided Jannik Sinner in the final, who was knocked out in the quarter-finals to everyone’s surprise.
However, it is worth reading between the lines to understand the power of Alcaraz’s message. Samuel López’s protégé was crowned three weeks ago in Melbourne as the youngest tennis player in history to complete the career Grand Slam. January had barely ended and he had already achieved his big goal for the year, already ticked off one of his lifelong dreams. Many athletes admit to feeling a huge void after reaching the top. Many relax, let themselves go for a while, and bask in their success from the comfort of their armchair.
But Alcaraz has shown that he is above that. He knows perfectly well that legends are built week by week. There are examples of the guys he wants to catch up with one day. For Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, there was no time to relax. They would win a Grand Slam and already be thinking about the next tournament; they would stumble and already be eyeing their recovery; they would break a record and quickly turn the page to see what was next on the list. Stars with an unstoppable hunger.
Alcaraz seems to have taken note of this modus operandi and has been posting numbers worthy of the Big Three in recent months: since April last year, the Murcia native has played 13 tournaments, reached 12 finals and won nine titles. That translates into a record of 68 wins and five losses, with a perfect 30-0 in outdoor hard court matches.
The latest came on Saturday against Arthur Fils, who has taken a giant step forward in Doha. The Frenchman has been out of competition for eight months and the ATP 500 in the desert is only his third tournament since his return. However, the difference in tennis between him and a player like Alcaraz is enormous. And that’s even though the Spaniard did not play at his best in the final. He won by making the minimum number of mistakes, and Fils ended up desperate. Finding himself 6-2 and 3-0 down in just over half an hour, the new protégé of Goran Ivanisevic – the coach who got the best out of Djokovic – smashed his racket on the ground in a fit of rage. That’s what Alcaraz does to his opponents.
The final, or rather the ‘non-final’, lasted 50 minutes. A powerful message from Alcaraz with many recipients. Here I am, and if you let me…
