Ruud, who showed sportsmanship during the first set, participated in the Korea Open at the end of this month
19-year-old rookie Carlos Alkaras (4th place, Spain) became the youngest player in history to become the youngest world No.
Alkaras defeated Casper Rood (7th, Norway) 3-1 (6-4 2-6 7-6) in the men’s singles final on the last day of the tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, USA on the 12th (Korea time). 6-3) was suppressed.
Alkaras, born on May 12, 2003, becomes the new No. 1 in the men’s professional tennis (ATP) singles world rankings on the 12th.
At 19 years and 4 months, becoming number one in the world in singles is the youngest record since 1973 when the ATP world rankings were established.
The previous record was held by Leyton Hewitt (Australia), who took first place in November 2001 at the age of 20 years and 9 months.
Therefore, Alkaras became the first player in the world to become the world’s number one singles player at the age of 10.
It is also the youngest major men’s singles win since Rafael Nadal (3rd place, Spain), who won the French Open in 2005 at the age of 19.
In terms of the US Open alone, he is the youngest men’s singles champion since Pete Sampras (retired, US) won the championship in 1990 at the age of 19 years and 1 month.
Alkaras, also called ‘Nadal’s successor’, had the best performance in major tournaments before this tournament in the US Open in 2021 and the quarterfinals in this year’s French Open.
In particular, Alkaras overcame the difficulties of competing in five sets of three consecutive matches starting from the round of 16 in this tournament, and caught two rabbits, the first major win in their career and the world’s number one ranking.
The quarterfinals with Jannik Sinner (13th, Italy) took a whopping 5 hours and 15 minutes, and the match ended at 2:50 am local time, literally ‘blood battle’.
The game ended at 2:50 a.m., the longest time in US Open history, and 5 hours and 15 minutes was the second longest game in US Open history.
In the semifinal two days ago, Ruud defeated Karen Khachanov (31st, Russia) 3-1 (7-6). 6-2 5-7 6-2), Alkaras played another 5 sets with Francis Tiapo (26th, USA), 3-2 (6-7) 6-3 6-1 6-7 6-3) to win.
At the end of the match, Ruud finished the game regarding 6 hours early, so he looked physically advantageous before the final of the day.
However, Alkaras, who fell behind by 5-6 in the 3rd set game score, overcame the crisis of conceding two set points to Ruud and took the 3rd set following a tie break, and the game leadership was transferred to Alkaras.
In the fourth set, Alkaras took a 3-2 lead, and in the sixth game, Ruud’s backhand was long out, making it 4-2.
Alkaras was led 0-30 in his subsequent sub game, but defended the sub game with two sub aces.
In an interview following the game, Alkaras said, “I have dreamed of becoming the world’s number one and winning a major since I was a child,” and “I worked really hard to achieve it.”
Roude, who finished runner-up at the French Open this year, would have achieved his first major championship and world No.
Ruud, who placed 2nd in the world, showed his sportsmanship during the first set match and received applause from the fans.
He ran to catch the ball that fell on the front of the court in a situation where he was behind by 3-4 in the first set, but the ball had already bounced on the floor twice.
However, as the referee did not call and the match continued as it was, Ruud informed the chair Umpire that Alkaras scored the first goal.
In an interview following the runner-up, Rood showed neat court manners, such as conveying words of consolation to American fans for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that took place on September 11 on a local date. He will participate and meet with domestic fans.
/yunhap news
