- Third seed Carlos Alcaraz storms into the finals.
- Second grand slam final for Ruud within a year
- Big 4 seem to fade gradually
3rd seeded Spanish Carlos Alcaraz Garfia reached his first grand slam finals after defeating the local boy Francis Tiafoe in an epic five-setter by 6-7(8),6-3, 6-1,6-7(7),6-3 of the US Open 2022 Semifinal. Alcaraz who is in red hot form this year was looking pretty great in this match.
However, Tiafoe took his chances and won the first set.
Alcaraz came back from one set down, to win the next two and was looking to win but Tiafoe took the fourth setter to take it into the decider. Tiafoe seemed tired and Alcaraz was too good for him in the fifth.
Alcaraz had 71% first serve compared to Tiafoe’s 47, creating enough difference. This was Carlos’ consecutive five-setter after an epic clash with Frenchman Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, fifth-ranked Caspur Ruud defeated Karen Khachanov by 7-6(5),6-2,5-7,6-2. The Norwegian looked too good for the Russian Khachanov. This is the second grand slam final for Ruud. Previously, he had reached the finals of the French Open ’22 where he faced a defeat from Djokovic.
Alcaraz or Ruud? A new Numero Uno awaiting.
https://twitter.com/usopen/status/1568449640369999873?cxt=HHwWgsC-5emooMQrAAAA
With Ruud and Alcaraz in the finals, both have set their eyes on the #1 rank on Sunday. Current number one and the reigning champion, Medvedev lost in the fourth round and was thus unable to defend the points. The other contender of the race to #1, seasoned, Nadal too lost in the fourth round.
Change of Guard?
Before US Open, Alcaraz had won 44 matches and faced just 9 defeats in 2022. He won four titles including Madrid, Miami masters along with Barcelona and Rio Open.
On the other side, Ruud reached his first Slam final, won Gstaad, Geneva and Buenos Aires and had a record of 38-15 before this US open.
The other side of the story is that Novak Djokovic was not allowed to play in the Australian Open and the US Open due to the vaccine fiasco, and Medvedev was banned along with all the Russian players in Wimbledon.
This made ATP take action and they removed ranking points from Wimbledon which Djoker had won.
However, this doesn’t change the fact that the next-gen is knocking at the door. With Roger Federer being almost out of the picture, and Nadal facing injury troubles, it seems it will come sooner than later.
Earlier this year Medvedev became the first player to become number one other than the Big 4. The last time someone outside the big four became number one was Andy Roddick(US) in 2004.
It took 18 years to break their reign. In these 18 years, Djokovic was at the top for the record 373 weeks, followed by Federer(SWI) for 310, Nadal (ESP) for 209 and Andy Murray(BRIT) for 41 weeks.
This US Open was the first time none of the big 4 was in the quarter-finals. Now, Alcaraz seems to be a new superstar in making with an exciting game and fan engagement.
Jannik Sinner is playing well too along with the players like Ruud, and Aliassme.
It’s not possible to recreate what the big 4 did for almost two decades but the next gen seems to finally have found its way to the top.
Read More – Rafael Nadal: ‘I wish Carlos Alcaraz all the best’
