Carlos Alcaraz wins Queen’s title, makes a statement on grass

Fancy some Carlos Alcaraz special on grass, folks? After announcing his breakthrough on the hard courts of the US Open and flaunting his breathtaking game on the clay courts of the French Open, the young Spaniard is starting to dip his toes on the natural green as well.

Playing just his third tournament on a surface that has troubled many of his more experienced and accomplished colleagues, the 20-year-old lifted the Queen’s Club Championships crown in a perfect warm up to Wimbledon starting on July 3. In beating Australian Alex De Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the final in London on Sunday, Alcaraz not only secured a first grass-court title of his young and greatness-promising career, but also returned to the No.1 ranking that was snatched away by Novak Djokovic after his record French Open title win earlier this month.

Its significance — on paper at least — lies in the fact that the 2022 US Open champion will now be top seed at this Wimbledon, though the favourite tag rests solely on the shoulders of the Serb who hasn’t been defeated there since 2018. Still, in the absence of a clear challenger — the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have suffered early exits in the lead-up events — Alcaraz’s increasing feel for the grass adds an interesting touch to the Djokovic-vs-who Wimbledon context and the Djokovic-vs-Alcaraz developing rivalry.

“The chances don’t change so much. I mean, Novak is coming to Wimbledon,” Alcaraz said on Sunday. “Right now, I’m feeling better than at the beginning of the week, that’s obvious. Of course, recovering the No.1 (ranking) before Wimbledon, it gives you extra motivation, it gives you extra confidence coming into Wimbledon. But it doesn’t change too much.”

The Spaniard had, right after the French Open from which he was sent packing by Djokovic in the semi-final, downplayed his chances on grass, going as far as saying that he believed Nick Kyrgios had a more realistic shot at beating Djokovic at Wimbledon than him. That’s simply because Alcaraz hadn’t played enough on a surface that requires different skill sets, shots and movement to excel compared to clay and hard courts.

In his previous two Wimbledon outings, he lost in the second round in 2021 to Medvedev and in the fourth round in 2022 to Jannik Sinner. In both those seasons, Alcaraz went straight from Roland Garros to the All England Club without playing a single tune-up event.

Tweaking his schedule this year and entering in his first ATP event on grass with a humble 4-2 win-loss record on the surface, Alcaraz needed a final set tie-break to dig himself out against Arthur Rinderknech in the opening match. Since then, however, it was smooth sailing for the Spanish prince at Queen’s. He beat the experienced Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-final in straight sets and eased past young Sebastian Korda, the American more at home on grass, 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-final.

Aside from a lengthy treatment on his right quad that had been strapped, the final against De Minaur was almost a straightforward affair. One which gave him his fifth title on the ATP Tour this year (he is tied with Medvedev for the most), and more importantly with what’s to come next, his first on grass.