A tennis guard change is about to occur, according to Carlos Alcaraz, who praised his thrilling US Open quarterfinal victory against Jannik Sinner as the best of his career.
In a match that finished at 2:50 a.m. (New York time) on Thursday, the 19-year-old Spaniard prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (7/9), 6-7 (0/7), 7-5, 6-3.
It broke the previous record for the later conclusion in New York of 2:26 a.m. with a duration of 5 hours and 15 minutes, making it the second-longest US Open match.
The fourth-ranked player in the world, Alcaraz, said, “I would say that was the finest match I’ve played in my whole career.”
“At 5:15, there was incredible talent from both Jannik and myself, from the first ball to the last.”
Jannik and I will remember this for the rest of our lives, he said.
Since Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open, Alcaraz is the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam men’s semifinal.
Since Pete Sampras in 1990, he is also the most recent male US Open semifinalist to be under 30.
Although he is still searching for his first Grand Slam victory, Alcaraz cautioned that the supremacy of Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer, who have won 63 majors between them, may be coming to an end.
As long as Rafa, Djokovic, and Federer are there, they will remain the greatest, and their competition will always take precedence, he stated.
“However, Jannik and I have shown today that we are the here and now and that we also have a prosperous future ahead of us. We’ll have a lot of fun playing together.”