Extravagant Carlos Alcaraz unleashes total tennis in quest for US Open

As Carlos Alcaraz sat down in the early hours of Thursday morning, time was running out and he knew it. In his short career, the 19-year-old has established a reputation for taking defeats with perspective and a smile on his face, but this time he had nothing. He had generated enough chances to win in straight sets and he had mostly played incredibly well, but never when it really mattered. He found himself down 4-3 in the fourth set to Jannik Sinner, two games from defeat.

His composure momentarily gone, Alcaraz spent the entire change of ends ranting towards his distinguished coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, about the one weakness that had handcuffed him all night: “Where do I serve to? I don’t know how to serve,” he shouted. Ferrero did not respond.

Even by that point, it was an absurd match. Alcaraz and the 21-year-old Sinner had spent four hours utterly destroying the ball, flitting from side to side and using every inch of the court. Alcaraz’s movement alone is unlike anything else in the world right now and he soaked up so much of Sinner’s destructive power. But he pairs his athleticism with his own brutal shotmaking and his extravagant all-court style.

As usual, Alcaraz produced enough outrageous shots to fill several highlight reels. One time he slid into the splits while chasing down a ball, then fell, got up and then calmly threaded a backhand down-the-line past Sinner. And that wasn’t even his best point of the day. Not long after he somehow sweetly struck a behind-the-back shot, then he slid into the forecourt and rolled a backhand passing-shot winner. He constantly orchestrated the crowd, which despite waning as the match wore on, chanted his name until the end.

In the face of Alcaraz’s total tennis, Sinner was