Who is Aslan Karatsev, the great revelation of the Australian Open?

No one doubts that Aslan Karatsev is the great revelation of the men’s team at the Australian Open. At 27, the Vladikavkaz tennis player has already managed to sneak into the top eight of the tournament and this Tuesday (not before 5:00 Spanish time) he will face Grigor Dimitrov in search of a place in the semifinals of the tournament after leaving rivals such as Gianluca Mager, Egor Gerasimov, Diego Schwartzman and Felix Auger-Aliassime on the way, yielding to the latter his only two sets so far this tournament and starring an incredible comeback to win 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 and 6-4.

Karatsev started on the circuit at the age of 16 playing ITF tournaments although without achieving outstanding results until in 2013 he achieved his first titles in Russia F7 and Russia F8. in addition to conquering the Egypt F12 and playing final phases of ATP tournaments such as the one in Saint Petersburg that year, even winning a set against Mikhail Youzhny.

Karatsev continued to grow in ATP Challenger Tour tournaments, reaching the final of the Samarkand tournament in 2014 and playing the Wimbledon qualifier that year until in March 2015 he won his first title on the Challenger Tour in Kazan, which allowed him to settle in the Top-200 of the ATP ranking and attend the previous rounds of the Grand Slam, while continuing to compete in Challengers and in various tournaments on the ATP circuit.

In 2016 Karatsev left the Top-200 and in 2017 he fell to position 751 in the ranking after spending almost four months without playing, until he regained sensations by winning the ITF tournaments in Qatar in 2017 and the Egypt F1 and F2, France F13 and Tunisia F41 and F42 of 2018, which allowed him to climb several positions in the ranking. After a 2019 in which he won in M15 in Doha, Karatsev started 2020 reaching the final of the Challenger in Bangkok and his progression continued to grow after reaching the final of the Challenger in Prague, where he fell to Stan Wawrinka and won the II Challenger in Prague after beating Tallon Griekspoor in the final, and the Challenger from Ostrava, which allowed him to settle in the Top-200 again and reach their best historical ranking to date (111th) after reaching the round of 16 at the Sofia tournament.

Karatsev’s dream has continued to grow in this 2021, where he managed to qualify for the first time for the final draw of a Grand Slam in the preview of the Australian Open in Doha and be part of the team with which Russia managed to win the ATP Cup. Now Karatsev, who next week will enter the Top-100 thanks to his great performance (at least he will stay in position 63) wants to continue making history at the Australian Open with his compatriots Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev although on a path Now a Grigor Dimitrov intervenes who also wants to re-green old laurels in the Australian Grand Slam.

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