Alcaraz defeats Ruud, wins the US Open and becomes the youngest number 1 in history

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Always ahead of his time,

confirmed in

, in the most important match of his life, that this is great news for tennis.

He is already the champion of

, the tournament that launched him to stardom last year, and the

He is too early to speak of the beginning of a new era, but he has all the conditions to lead it and even accelerate the departure of players like

and

.

He defeated

6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3,

.

The

has not only given him the greatest victory of his career but has also toughened him up in the rigors of the

tournaments .

Winner this year in

, and last season in

, he makes a qualitative leap facing all setbacks, with the

in rooms as the most dramatic moment.

After three hectic nights, with limit situations and five sets in between, the final dawned calmer, but it was far from comfortable.

At the beginning it was Alcaraz who successfully sought the points and the control of the game, without letting himself be trapped by the more tactical tennis of his opponent, who lacks weapons like the ones he possesses.

Somewhat passive, the Norwegian, who

to break serve in the first set, found himself too often trapped in the backhand zone.

Alcaraz obtained revenue from his open serve on the advantage side and took the opportunity to go to the net.

He was and

.

The worst moment

Such a degree of conviction betrayed him in a second set where he was able to lead 3-2 and serve.

He didn't,

up, hurried, lacking in lucidity, and went into a bewilderment the like of which he hadn't been seen during this entire competition, with cries of self-reproach.

Ruud, with a better percentage of firsts and greater aggressiveness, detected the crisis and equalized the score.

It shouldn't surprise us either.

It was the first time in history that two tennis players played the number 1 in the world in a Grand Slam final.

For the Spaniard,

, four years younger than his opponent, it was also his first major final.

Not so for Ruud, who lost the Roland Garros against Nadal last spring.

Alcaraz

.

Some gaps within certain parties, or unwise decisions can be discussed with him, with all the mitigating factors typical of inexperience, but he does not usually err on the side of

, and even less so at critical moments.

The survival of the third set

Part of the fate of the final came from the

in the eleventh game of the third set.

In both cases he neutralized them at the net.

The one from

, who had reversed the bias of the match, collapsed in the tiebreaker, the first of the last five that Alcaraz took ahead, surpassed in the two that he played against

and against

.

You have to go back to

to find the last Spaniard to win a

in the men's box apart from Rafael Nadal.

It was

, Alcaraz's coach, at Roland Garros.

Many individual and collective successes followed, but no one beyond the holder of 22 majors had been able to make the hit.

As the great generation of our tennis aged, and even with Nadal in full force, as evidenced by his victories at the Australian Open and Roland Garros this season, there was a logical concern about the replacement.

Alcaraz warned, taking the appropriate steps and appearing on the circuit without shame, knocking down records of precocity, with the game and the attitude of the chosen ones, but it was difficult to envision such a success so quickly.

Just under a year ago, he played in the

, the tournament that brings together the eight best young tennis players of the season.

Although he did it having already won the ATP 250 in Umag and with a dazzling step through his first US Open, he was still a kid waiting to endorse the suggested promises.

This morning, before the man who already follows him in the ranking, he knew how to overcome another disturbing trance and, when he broke victim of anxiety, give a script twist.

, who broke in the sixth game and went straight for the cup.

.

JULIAN FINNEYAFP

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