Carlos Alcaraz has 15 Grand Slam victories at the age of 21, younger than Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. None of them achieved it at his age. The Murcia native, currently number 3 in the world, is coming off of winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as a silver medal at the Olympics, has a record of 60 wins and 10 losses in the Grand Slams and has a sequence of 15 victories open – seven in Paris, seven in London and one in this edition of the US Open – a figure also matched by Spaniard Rafa Nadal at the age of 22, Swiss Roger Federer at 23 and Serbian Novak Djokovic at 24.
The latter, winner of 24 Grand Slam titles, the most, managed to link together three streaks of 27 victories, the first of them between 2011 and 2012, a record he reached at 24 years old, almost 25. Until then he had not reached Alcaraz’s current mark. The Mallorcan Nadal, who has 22 trophies in the major category, managed to chain 19 Grand Slam triumphs in 2008 at 22 years old and would then reach his peak of 25 between 2010 and 2011. Meanwhile, Federer, who retired with 20 major titles, also obtained 19 consecutive victories in those tournaments between 2004 and 2005 at 23 years old and later would reach 27, which is his best streak.
“What a shame that McEnroe beat me by one match…”
Alcaraz achieved his 60th Grand Slam victory on Tuesday after beating Li Tu at the US Open, a record that puts him only behind John McEnroe as the player who needed the fewest matches to reach that figure in the ‘open era’ (69 for the American, 70 for the Spaniard). “It’s a great statistic. The truth is that I didn’t know it, I hadn’t seen it. That’s what we work for every day: to try to be better, win matches, give ourselves the opportunity to reach the final rounds in each tournament and especially in Grand Slams. What a shame that McEnroe beat me by one match…”, he joked at a press conference.
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“But for me it is an honour to share these statistics with great legends of the sport. There are 60, so now we want to go for 70, then for 80… And so try to achieve as many Grand Slam victories as possible,” he added.
With more setbacks than expected, Alcaraz (world number 3) started his US Open campaign on Tuesday by beating Australian Li Tu (number 186 and coming from the previous rounds) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-1 in two hours and 42 minutes. After losing the second set and getting stuck in a very difficult part of his tennis, the Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion knew how to react and now has 15 consecutive Grand Slam wins. “It’s something I’ve said many times that I have to improve: the issue of disconnections,” he admitted about his mistakes in the second set after starting the match “very focused and focused.”
“I made a lot of mistakes that weren’t my fault. From two unforced errors in the first set to 18 in the second. It’s a big change, and that’s why I lost the second set. These are things that I have to keep improving (…). But in general I’m happy with the level, with the way I hit the ball, with the way I moved: with good feelings except for those little things that stay with you,” he said.
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The Murcian will face Dutchman Botic van De Zandschulp (n.74) in the next round, who defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov (n.105) and whom he has beaten in his two previous matches (the 2021 Australian Open and 2022 Basel Open). “I know he’s a very dangerous player, he has great shots. He was in a pretty good moment, maybe this last year or these last few months he hasn’t been playing his best tennis. It’s been clear in the results,” he explained. “But if he beat Shapovalov it’s because his level is high, capable of anything. We’re going to have to be focused on every point, try to improve what we did wrong today and try to have a good feeling and play good tennis,” he concluded.