As Bjorn Borg observed stoically from the Royal Box, Carlos Alcaraz moved to within a match of emulating the great Swede. The 22-year-old, tennis’s hottest property, who is in the form of his life and is on a 24-match winning streak dating back to April, is chasing the “double double”: winning both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in successive years.
Borg did it three times, in fact, from 1978-1980, but it's something Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all missed out on. Yet just three years since he burst onto the world scene in 2022, Alcaraz is on the cusp of a sensational feat. And despite flirting with a final-set decider in the semi-finals here against the world No 5 Taylor Fritz, it felt somewhat inevitable that Alcaraz would hit his superlative heights when it mattered most.
Down 6-4 in the fourth-set tie-break, Alcaraz sprinkled his typical dose of Centre Court magic to win four points in a row and take victory over the American: 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(6). And given his bamboozling shot selection and poise beyond his years, he was fooling nobody with his humble post-match sentiments.
“It was a really difficult match, it always is when I play against Taylor,” he said on court afterwards. “Playing the semi-finals here is not easy with the nerves and the pressure.
“I’m just very proud of the way I stayed calm and thought clearly. This is my dream, stepping onto these courts, at the most beautiful tournaments in the world.”
Alcaraz is not one to arrogantly overlook any challenge before him, and he did not do so here. Fritz, competing in his first Wimbledon semi-final but also riding a wave having won two grass court tournaments in Stuttgart and Eastbourne, started out on serve like a man oddly dazed by the occasion. The American was not at the races for all of four minutes at the start of the match. His sloppy start cost him the first set.
Broken immediately, with Alcaraz the beneficiary of a dead net cord mid-rally (as if the Spaniard needs luck on his side), Fritz was thrown straight into the eye of the storm in the first hour, with Alcaraz playing some breathtaking stuff. Frighteningly ruthless on serve, losing just four points behind it in the first set and zero after finding his first serve, and zealously inspired on return.
One point summed it all up as Fritz dived in vain at the net, reaching for a pinpoint Alcaraz pass like a goalkeeper grasping at thin air for the ball, when the whole stadium knows it’s heading for the bottom corner. Alcaraz could not help but smirk, briefly. He’d go on to serve out the set to love and put himself well on the way to Sunday’s showpiece.
It was no secret that if Alcaraz was, miraculously, able to maintain his stunningly high level for the rest of the match, Fritz had little to no hope. But gradually, the 27-year-old doggedly fought his way back into the contest, taking the ball early and flat to great effect. By the end of the second, it was Alcaraz’s serve which was vulnerable, particularly during a stop-start game during which two spectators fainted in the stands amid 31C temperatures. Alcaraz saved a break point, but the momentum had shifted.
Critically, Fritz did not melt in the SW19 sunshine at the critical juncture, with a tie-break appearing to beckon in the second. However, at 6-5 on serve, a momentary lapse in concentration and execution from Alcaraz presented three set points to the American; the Spaniard went long on the forehand and, much like Fritz in the opener, was punished for his erratic few minutes.
Curiously, having taken his first set against Alcaraz in six attempts, Fritz chose this moment to take a 10-minute bathroom break. An interesting call, given the tide of the match was with him.
Alcaraz, unperturbed and waiting patiently at the back of the court, regrouped and came out of the blocks with an extra spring. Cranking into gear, Alcaraz roared to his player box as he broke to love early in the third set, running the 6ft 4in Fritz ragged with a drop-shot and then a lob.
By the time Fritz surrendered the set on his own serve with a backhand long, we had barely played two hours, with both racing through their service games – bar the odd exception.
The fourth set followed a similar trajectory to the second, nip and tuck throughout and both men serving supremely. Yet the edgier of the two was Fritz, with a few gesticulations to his box in moments of frustration. But a tiebreak, which felt a formality in the second, came to fruition in the fourth.
Rather inevitably, Alcaraz reached new heights in the breaker, just when it mattered most. Fritz, with some terrific play of his own, found himself a point away from forcing a fifth set at 6-4 before Alcaraz, somehow and someway, turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye. The Spaniard won four points in a row, unbreakable at the back of the court and exquisitely delicate at the net, to emerge victorious. He leant back and roared.
“Right now, I don’t want to think about Sunday,” he said. “I just want to enjoy this moment.” One of his biggest rivals, Jannik Sinner, awaits, having beaten Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final, which Alcaraz admitted he would watch. “This is one of the most exciting matches on tour,” he said. “Let’s see who I’ll play.”
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