As he finished his preparations last weekend for his third professional grass-court tournament, Carlos Alcaraz made it clear that he was keeping his expectations far lower than usual. Instead of heading to Queen’s Club in west London in order to win the title, his primary goal was merely to gain more experience on grass, a surface he has spent so little time on. There are, after all, surely limits to his precocity.
For once, Alcaraz significantly underestimated his own abilities; a week later, he is still on track to pull off both achievements. The Spaniard will play for his first grass-court title after a spectacular display of relentless attacking tennis allowed him to ease past Sebastian Korda 6-3, 6-4 and reach the Queen’s final on his debut.
