Juan Carlos Ferrero said before the semifinal against Frances Tiafoe that it was not convenient for his player to become obsessed with the number 1 in the world.

Once the first premise is fulfilled, to be in the final of the United States Open this Sunday, Carlos Alcaraz already knows that victory carries the juicy complement of entering, at 19 years, four months and seven days, as

the youngest tennis player who takes the attic of the circuit

.

The same double reward awaits his opponent,

Casper Ruud

, who beat Karen Khachanov 7-6 (5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in the first semifinal.

The 23-year-old Norwegian has won three small tournaments this year, Gstaad, Geneva and Buenos Aires, and has a total of nine in a continuously rising career.

In fact, for him it will not be his debut in the direct fight for a

major

, since he

lost the Roland Garros final last spring against Rafael Nadal

, in whose academy he spends several periods of the year.

The winner takes it all

, the winner takes it all, as the famous group Abba used to sing.

Alcaraz has won both of his matches against Ruud, the last of them last spring in the Miami Masters 1000 final.

Spanish tennis room

Alcaraz would surpass the precocity of Lleyton Hewitt

, who was number 1 at the age of 20 years and nine months on November 19, 2001, shortly after winning the first of his two Grand Slam titles in New York.

In 2002 he would come out the winner at Wimbledon.

It would be the fourth number 1 in Spanish tennis

, an honor inaugurated by Carlos Moyà, on March 15, 1999. In 2003 it was Ferrero, who, after beating Andre Agassi in the US Open semifinals, secured the coveted label, despite losing the final against Andy Roddick.

Rafael Nadal opened his first stage in the command post on August 18, 2008, at the age of 22 years and two months.

Although he fell in the round of 16 of this US Open against Tiafoe,

Nadal

also opted to take the lead.

He would have done it if Alcaraz and Ruud had lost.

Waiting for how he will prepare his calendar in the last part of the season, conditioned by his upcoming paternity,

he is the best placed to conclude 2022 as number 1

.

He has no points to defend, given that he spent the second part of last year on the hard shoulder, a victim of the chronic injury he suffers to the scaphoid in his left foot.

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