On a blast furnace of a day Carlos Alcaraz came through the fire. The double Wimbledon champion survived the might and spite of Taylor Fritz’s serve, as well as the 31C heat, to book his place against Jannik Sinner in the men’s final.
But what a struggle this semi-final turned out to be. At one point, as Fritz smashed 135mph serves and howitzer forehands for fun past him, Alcaraz was just one point away from a fifth set. But, as usual, he somehow found a way to flip the narrative and emerge triumphant.
“It was a really difficult match,” the Spaniard admitted after his 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory. “Even tougher with the conditions. And with the pressure of a semi-final it was not easy.”
Some have suggested that Wimbledon has been on the slow side this year. But this semi-final had the rattle and hum of an old-fashioned grass-courter. The serve was dominant, the points short, the margins slim.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that Alcaraz, so often tennis’s greatest showman, resembled a serve bot. He won 88% of points on his first serve. And, staggeringly, also claimed 31 out of 41 points at the net. Squint and it could almost have been Pistol Pete Sampras in his prime.
“I was just serving really good,” admitted Alcaraz. “And I won a lot of serve and volley points today, just not letting the opponent get into the point, to get a good rhythm.”
Fritz gave it everything, of course. And if a point or two had gone differently, who knows what might have been. But the American, as good as he is, continues to have two noticeable deficiencies.
The first is that he does not enjoy hitting his backhand down the line. And despite being 6ft 5in with a long wingspan, he regards coming to the net with the same suspicion as a vegetarian might approach an Argentinian steakhouse.
Alcaraz, meanwhile, has the canny ability to absorb his opponent’s power and, like the Marvel superhero Rogue, use it against them. That much was evident from the opening point. Fritz sent down a 135mph thunderbolt, only for Alcaraz to return it with interest, pin his opponent back and then win the point with an exquisite drop shot.
The Spaniard went on to break immediately, thanks to a net cord, before racing through the first set in 36 minutes. Incredibly, at this point he had won 15 out of 15 points after his first serve went in.
“I’ve watched Carlos plenty,” Fritz said. “For me, I feel like that’s the best I’ve seen him serve. He has so much raw power, and I don’t move like he does, so he can hurt me.”
But Fritz, who had the muscle memory of winning two recent tournaments on grass, at Stuttgart and Eastbourne, wasn’t going to make it easy.
He finally earned his first break point at 4-3 in the second set, when Alcaraz was distracted by two delays caused by spectators collapsing and needing treatment. And while the Spaniard clung on, at 6-5 he was unable to stop Fritz breaking him to love to make it one-set all.
The momentum seemed to be with the American. But having won the first game on serve, he was broken to love in the process of losing 13 points in a row. A second break followed as the Spaniard took the third set 6-3.
But Fritz again refused to wilt. The fourth set rushed by with a succession of easy holds until we were into a tie-break. Alcaraz struck first with a mini-break, set up with a drop shot and a lob combination, and went 4-1 ahead. But with the finishing line in sight, Fritz found a response.
He pulled it back to 4-3 with two big serves, then thundered a rare backhand winner down the line and hit a big forehand to make it 5-4. A 140mph serve took it to 6-4 and, from nowhere, he had two set points.
Alcaraz saved the first by somehow returning a 134mph serve. Then, inspired by the Centre Court crowd, he raced through the next three points to claim victory in just under three hours.
A couple of hours later, Alcaraz learned he would face Sinner in a rematch of their epic French Open final.
“He’s going to take a lot of things from the French Open final, that he’s going to be better,” warned the Spaniard. “He’s going to be better physically, he’s going to be better mentally. He’s going to be prepared on Sunday to give his 100%.
“I’m not thinking I have advantage mentally because of that match.”
Perhaps. But this will be Alcaraz’s sixth grand slam final, a deeply impressive feat given he turned 22 in May. And the bad news for Sinner? The Spaniard has won the previous five.
