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Liberal Arts Blog — Carlos Alcaraz (2003 — ) Heir Apparent Triumphs Again at Wimbledon

5 min readJul 20, 2024

Liberal Arts Blog — Saturday is Sports, Dance, Fitness, and All Things Physical Day

Today’s Topic: Carlos Alcaraz (2003 — ) Heir Apparent Triumphs Again at Wimbledon

He is only 21 and now Wimbledon champion for the second year in a row defeating the greatest player of all time Novak Djokovic in straight sets 6–2,6–2,7–5.

Wow!

“Following his win at the 2022 US Open he became the youngest man and the first male teenager in the Open Era to top the singles rankings at 19 years, 4 months, and 6 days old.”

Wow!

When he won the French Open earlier this year, he became the youngest man in history to win a Grand Slam on all three surfaces (grass, clay, and hard court) — sometimes called a “Surface Slam.”

Wow!

Winning both the Wimbledon and French Opens in the same year is called a “Channel Slam” and is a rare event indeed — with only five other players accomplishing this feat in the Open Era — Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

Wow!

Today, a few more notes on the new Super Hero of men’s tennis as well as on the guy who gave him the toughest challenge on the way to the Wimbledon Final — Frances Tiafoe, an American who is the son of Sierra Leonian immigrants and is only the third African American male to be ranked in the Top Ten in the world since Arthur Ashe and James Blake.

Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.

HE’S REALLY, REALLY GOOD AT EVERYTHING — but his forehand is his primary weapon

1. “Alcaraz is an all-court tennis player, but primarily employs an aggressive baseline style of play, with an emphasis on a higher winner count from his forehand, typically his most reliable and potent shot.”

2. “He can either hit is forehand flat and fast for winners from every court position, or add a great amount of topspin and margin over the net.”

3. “He also possesses a well-rounded and more flat and lower net-clearance backhand groundstroke that he is able to redirect down the line for clear winners.”

NB: “His greatly disguised drop shot is key to his tame, as he often combines the heaviness of his groundstrokes and pushes his opponents back into the court into a defensive position, with a drop shot that is often too well-placed and disguised to deal with. He has an impressive net game with great drop volleys and drive volleys, and frequently serves and volleys on crucial points,”

MORE STUNNING STATISTICS ON ALCARAZ — what other male tennis players won four Grand Slams before age 22?

1. Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander.

2. What other male won their first four Grand Slam finals? Only Roger Federer. “But Federer won only one of them before age 22.”

3. Federer went on to win his first seven Majors finals.

NB: Will Alcaraz equal Federer’s feat — or surpass it? Or will Francis Tiafoe stop? him?

HIS TOUGHEST MATCH ON HIS WAY TO THE WIMBLEDON FINAL WAS AGAINST MY FAVORITE AMERICAN PLAYER — FRANCIS TIAFOE (below) 5–7, 6–2, 4–6, 7–6, 6–2

1. “He (Tiafoe) reached his career high at world №10 in singles on June 19, 2023, and world №160 in doubles on November 1, 2021. Tiafoe won his first of three ATP titles at the 2018 Delay Beach Open, becoming the youngest American man to win a tournament on the ATP Tour since Andy Roddick in 2022.”

2. “He won his second title on clay at the 2023 US Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston. and his third on grass in 2023 Stuttgart.”

3. “At 17, he became the youngest American in the main draw of the French Open since Michael Chang in 1989. As a teenager, he won the US Junior National Championship.”

NB: “At the 2019 Australian Open, he reached the quarterfinals, and at the 2022 US Open, he reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.” Let’s see how he does next time against the Super Hero from Spain!

Carlos Alcaraz — Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(tennis)#Surface_Slam

Liberal Arts Blog — Carlos Alcaraz, 19: the Next Nadal? the Next Chang? Neither?

https://www.google.com/search?q=alcaraz+djjokovic+wimbeldon+2024&oq=alcaraz+djjokovic+wimbeldon+2024&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQABgNGIAEMg0IAhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMgoIBRAAGIAEGKIEMgoIBhAAGIAEGKIEMgoIBxAAGIAEGKIEMgoICBAAGIAEGKIE0gEJMTExNjdqMWo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:45c1bfdd,vid:WebbpaGKe9s,st:0

Breathtaking five set thriller | Carlos Alcaraz vs Frances Tiafoe | Highlights | Wimbledon 2024

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?

For the last four years of posts organized by theme:

PDF with headlines — Google Drive

ATTACHMENTS BELOW:

#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).

#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)

#3 Israel-Palestine Handout

YOUR TURN

Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to sports, dance, and fitness. Or the coolest thing you learned about Sports, Dance, of Fitness in your life — whether on the field, on the dance floor or in the gym, whether from a coach, a parent, a friend, or just your own experimentation.

This is your chance to make someone else’s day. Or even change their life. It’s perhaps a chance to put into words something you have never articulated before. And to cement in your own memory something cool you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.

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John Muresianu
John Muresianu

Written by John Muresianu

Passionate about education, thinking citizenship, art, and passing bits on of wisdom of a long lifetime.

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