An heir presumptive or the presumptuous heir? Nobody could accuse the indefatigably polite Carlos Alcaraz of being the latter – or even dreaming of the former among a strong field of contenders – but nor would anyone watching the young Spaniard here on Friday argue with any conviction that the prince will not one day be king.
For the foreseeable future, Novak Djokovic starts favourite in every tournament he enters. He unreservedly deserves that rating. Yet, increasingly, it is Alcaraz who pursues him most consistently and with the greatest chance of success. If they meet in the final, it would be the most fitting conclusion to the 136th championships.
Emerging from the second round, Alcaraz did not make his case as well as he might have wished, as bits of his game misfired, but he always had too much for his stubborn opponent, Alexandre Müller, the 26-year-old Frenchman who has climbed without clamour to No 84 in the world.
In the evening, Djokovic kept his side of the bargain when he trounced his old friend, Stan Wawrinka, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (6), in two hours and seven minutes. The night was calm and the victory was expected, if slightly protracted, threatening to butt up against the 11pm curfew. Djokovic’s status as the most dominant player of this or any era, however, is as big a given as once belonged to Roger Federer.
Djokovic said: “It is amazing what Stan is still doing at his age after several surgeries – we are two old guys fighting with the young guns and it is important to acknowledge that. We have had some amazing battles on the biggest stage in the sport. But I know I always have a couple of gears higher I can go into, so hopefully I can keep getting better and better.”
Earlier, under strong afternoon sun, the young pretender Alcaraz, playing in only his fourth tournament on grass, won 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-3 in just over two and a half hours. It was a handy rather than spectacular workout – but revealing, for all that.
Müller falls into the category of talented but beatable in better company. He certainly lifted himself for only his fourth grass-court tournament, against the world No 1 on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Yet, as hard as he tried, Müller could not go blow for blow with Alcaraz over three sets in such literal and metaphorical glare.
It is too early, even in his already gilded young career, to assert that Alcaraz will leave in his dust contemporaries of such flickering promise as his constant rival, Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti, Hubert Hurkacz or Denis Shapovalov – all of whom reside on his side of the draw.
“I’m really, really happy,” Alcaraz said courtside. “My second match on Centre Court, lost last year on this beautiful court. It is important to start the tournament well, to have great feelings. I’m playing really great on match, a good level, getting better every match. Playing here at Wimbledon is something special.”
But, as the youngest world No 1 in the history of the game, he now sees his most obvious rival in the form of the imperious Djokovic, the nonpareil. The battle lines were already drawn when Alcaraz won Queen’s two weeks ago to leapfrog the Serb to the top of the world rankings. It is at these championships, however, that one of them surely was destined to land the sort of blow the rest of tennis was waiting for: Carlito v Nole, young and older, irresistible against almost unbeatable, the pretender trying to unseat the monarch. There is much to be settled before then, of course.
Only once has Alcaraz lost to a player ranked lower than Müller – against the No 95 Mikael Ymer on his grand slam debut in Melbourne two years ago. There would be no such slip-up here.
The anticipation around Alcaraz’s appearance on the grand stage here was intense – even for the player himself, who said earlier he regretted that his retired hero, Federer, had been unable to see his first-round win over Müller’s compatriot, Jérémy Chardy, on No 1 Court. Playing in front of Federer sounded as if it meant almost as much to him as winning the title.
He did not have it all his own way against the stubborn Müller who operated behind a steady backhand and is on a bit of roll after years on the fringes. He put a handful of aces past the No 1 seed but struggled to dent his all-round game and, generally, had to fight through deuce to hold serve.
Alcaraz’s greater challenge was his own forehand, which let him down repeatedly, unforced, 20 times in the second set alone, among 39 off both wings in the whole match. Yet he would not be deterred from giving the shot full force, his version of Baz-tennis. Müller, meanwhile, succumbed to his own impetuosity and saw his efforts melt in the heat, as he won only two points in the shootout to go two sets down.
A sense of the inevitable enveloped the court as the match turned inexorably from contest to surrender. Alcaraz rediscovered his rhythm in time to put down any thoughts of insurrection by his frustrated opponent, although he had to serve through deuce three times and two match points at the end to seal it – with, against the odds, a belting forehand.
To the very end, the Frenchman trusted his excellent backhand. It was never going to be enough. He will remember his visit to Centre Court for the occasion rather than the result.
