“Carlos Alcaraz was very lucky,” Italian tennis great Adriano Panatta calls the teen’s US Open title ‘predestined’
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Adriano Panatta and Carlos Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz‘s title at the 2022 US Open made him a first-time Grand Slam champion. Not only that, but it also made him the youngest men’s World No. 1 in the Open Era as he achieved the feat at the age of 19 years and 4 months breaking Leyton Hewitt‘s record by more than 16 months.
Seeded 3rd, Alcaraz started his campaign in New York brilliantly with 3 consecutive straight-set wins. He then had to battle for 5-sets in the next 3 matches to reach the finals where he managed to win the title in 4-sets breaking Kevin Anderson‘s record for most minutes in a Grand Slam campaign in the process.
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“Carlos Alcaraz just accelerated the process,”: Adriano Panatta
With Alcaraz’s rise since the 2021 season, his winning a Grand Slam was often discussed as he is seen as the leader of the sport in the coming years. However, winning it so early has still come as a surprise for many people including former French Open champion Adriano Panatta.
It’s safe to say that Adriano, like many tennis fans in Italy, was supporting Jannik Sinner for the title and also in his match against Alcaraz where the Spaniard saved a match point in the 4th set to force a 5th set and then go on to clinch the match which was a brilliant advertisement of the sport.
“Alcaraz number 1 in the world? The carelessness of youth. It is predestined but he was also very lucky: he could have lost against Sinner. We could see that he was going to become one of the best in the world, he just accelerated the process,” said Panatta as per WeloveTennis.
Alcaraz’s win over Sinner surely broke many Italian hearts. Sinner made his way to his 3rd major quarter-final this season at the US Open but failed once again to reach the last-4 after coming agonisingly close. The match however has given a massive rivalry to look for in the coming years between Sinner and Alcaraz.
With Sinner still in the race to qualify for the ATP Finals this year, there could be another instalment of the young rivalry coming before the end of the season as Alcaraz with the title has confirmed his place in the Year-End Championships.
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Sarthak Shitole
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