Alcaraz Takes Over Medvedev at Indian Wells and Reclaims World Number One Spot in Style

Let’s make ourselves comfortable, gentlemen, because another Martian has descended on the tennis planet and has every intention of colonizing the territory like not even on “Independence day”. Carlos Alcaraz at not even 20 years old, wins the third Masters 1000 of his career and undermines Novak Djokovic from the world throne again, once again becoming number one in the world. And he did all this by beating Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells final, crashed by the Iberian fury with a peremptory 6-3 6-2 in one hour and ten minutes. The Russian, therefore, stops at 19 games won in a row, which had earned him three tournaments (Dubai, Doha and Rotterdam): he failed to play poker, but against this Alcaraz (15 to 1 in 2023, defeated only by Norrie in the final in Rio de Janeiro) there was very little to do.

PHENOMENON

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There has often been talk of the margins for improvement of the opponents of this phenomenal teenager from Murcia, but the truth is that he continues to improve, leaving everyone speechless. Alcaraz sometimes still plays as a boy, without that tactical sagacity that made Rafael Nadal legendary at his age, for example, but he knows how to be overflowing, almost irrepressible, when he lights up. The Spaniard has an incredible variety of shots at his disposal and, paradoxically, this is also why he sometimes risks too much and makes mistakes (as he did, for example, in the semifinal against Sinner, also thanks to the Italian in that case), but when he’s on fire, I’m trouble for everyone. Thanks also to Juan Carlos Ferrero, a coach who fits perfectly with the exuberance of Alcaraz, who during the game talks to his player always hitting the right strings, not necessarily from a tactical point of view but above all from a mental one, almost to want to calm him down and make him see reason: it’s no small detail.

DOMAIN

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Frankly, it’s useless to comment on the match, which was almost an execution. Unexpected, totally, given that everyone expected a fight to the death. Instead, they’re ready to go and Alcaraz immediately takes a break ahead with a deadly run of 12 points to 3. Medvedev, stunned, tries to change, to vary, to look for even unusual solutions for him, but it’s all useless, with an Alcaraz who he traveled with an amazing 80% of firsts (not even a break point allowed in the game) and with an impressive return aggression (three break points converted on three attempts in the match). Filed the first set with a 6-3 without appeal, the 19-year-old Spaniard starts even stronger in the second, even flying up to 4-0. At that point Medvedev had already raised the white flag and Larry Ellison, the 78-year-old landlord and owner of Oracle, always in the front row, was even a little bored by all this. The 6-2 final was almost a liberation for the Russian, in an evening that he will prefer to forget as soon as possible. It ends with Alcaraz in triumph, with the eighth tournament won in his career and again number one in the world. To keep it for a long time, the Iberian will now have to win in Miami and repeat last year’s success, to attempt that Sunshine Double that only ten have managed (between men and women) in history to obtain, last but not least Roger Federer in 2017. But for this Alcaraz, even this does not seem an impossible undertaking.