Alcaraz takes on The Wolf - RG 2024 round 1

Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
The Wolf breaks

It seems he knew that Alcaraz was going for the dropshot there, too predictable, he pounced on it and got the break.
 
Rattie

Rattie

Legend
Pleased with Carlitos’s performance today. I expected some rust, given he has barely managed to play any of the clay court season. Plus his arm injury casting doubt meant it was going to be playing on his mind even if it’s healed.
His movement was great and his BDTL was really firing. He dropped serve in the opening game of the match while warming up really and the service game dropped in the third was more a consequence of some great play by Wolf than anything Carlos did wrong.
1st serve percentage up at 72% and his return of serve was also working well.
For an opening round match given the lack of match play, good start from Carlos who must be pleased with that score line 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Vamos! :)
 
raph6

raph6

Semi-Pro
Nostradamus said:
Now do you guys understand that Who will really win the French open this year ?? :) :)
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Come on, Carlos was solid but JJ was committing a lot of UEs. Besides Carlos was not hitting his forehand at 100% and he won’t be able to win a Slam without this weapon at his disposal. This match means nothing, Carlos has the same level as a few weeks before in Madrid, and as much as I would love to see him lift the trophy, it looks unlikely if he is not back to top form and health
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
raph6 said:
Come on, Carlos was solid but JJ was committing a lot of UEs. Besides Carlos was not hitting his forehand at 100% and he won’t be able to win a Slam without this weapon at his disposal. This match means nothing, Carlos has the same level as a few weeks before in Madrid, and as much as I would love to see him lift the trophy, it looks unlikely if he is not back to top form and health
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oh trust me on this,, once he gets to the quarterfinals,, he will be annililating his forehands at 150 MPH
 
Rattie

Rattie

Legend
raph6 said:
Come on, Carlos was solid but JJ was committing a lot of UEs. Besides Carlos was not hitting his forehand at 100% and he won’t be able to win a Slam without this weapon at his disposal. This match means nothing, Carlos has the same level as a few weeks before in Madrid, and as much as I would love to see him lift the trophy, it looks unlikely if he is not back to top form and health
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I wouldn’t say it means nothing, it’s a positive start given the circumstances. He wasn’t going to be hitting that forehand at 100% first match out; did you expect he would?
Let’s see how it goes. Too early to make a definitive judgement yet imo
 
J

Jonesy

Legend
If both are peak Sinner will beat Alcaraz. But who knows, the injured generation might injure themselves out of the tournament before semis.
 
M

messiahrobins

Legend
Hitman said:
Alcaraz wins...Great start.
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He was at 60% at most as well, just cruising.
If that arm holds up, we can give him the trophy. i am going to make a bold predictions here..while he wont beat Nadal's 14 RG as he is arguably too old already to realistically do it, i think he will get the record of consecutive FOs, i can see him winning 7 in a row!! Clay allows him to showcase all his artistery and he has a plan A, B, C and D!!
 
Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
messiahrobins said:
He was at 60% at most as well, just cruising.
If that arm holds up, we can give him the trophy. i am going to make a bold predictions here..while he wont beat Nadal's 14 RG as he is arguably too old already to realistically do it, i think he will get the record of consecutive FOs, i can see him winning 7 in a row!! Clay allows him to showcase all his artistery and he has a plan A, B, C and D!!
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I like Raz a lot, feels like the right to take over, after Nadal here.
 
M

messiahrobins

Legend
Hitman said:
I like Raz a lot, feels like the right to take over, after Nadal here.
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Thats how i see it. I feel he will dominate Sinner on clay. Think Sinner will trouble him on hard courts. Grass i think could be epic see saw battles between them.
If Rafa makes the final i cannot see how he could beat alcaraz tbh. I just dont see where he can hit to , there is no get out of jail card. Djokovic has the same problem, although he does have a far better serve than Rafa which can keep Alcaraz honest, as that is Alcaraz's one area of weakness which is why Zverev can trouble him. For Rafa though playing Alcaraz would be a bit like playing himself to an extent from 20 years ago. Movement would be the key difference.
 
Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
messiahrobins said:
Thats how i see it. I feel he will dominate Sinner on clay. Think Sinner will trouble him on hard courts. Grass i think could be epic see saw battles between them.
If Rafa makes the final i cannot see how he could beat alcaraz tbh. I just dont see where he can hit to , there is no get out of jail card. Djokovic has the same problem, although he does have a far better serve than Rafa which can keep Alcaraz honest, as that is Alcaraz's one area of weakness which is why Zverev can trouble him. For Rafa though playing Alcaraz would be a bit like playing himself to an extent from 20 years ago. Movement would be the key difference.
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If continues to improve, I expect him to bulldoze everyone on his way to the title. I think his peak level is the highest of anyone currently playing, it is all about if he brings his peak level as he continues to progress.
 
M

messiahrobins

Legend
Hitman said:
If continues to improve, I expect him to bulldoze everyone on his way to the title. I think his peak level is the highest of anyone currently playing, it is all about if he brings his peak level as he continues to progress.
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He is saying in his presser he has low expectations and still feels weird in his arm. This is very new from Alcaraz and i wonder if his team have told him to cut out the bravado of last year when he was declaring himself a favourite. He is maturing before our eyes and i totally agree his A game is higher than anyone's on tour now.
 
Olli Jokinen

Olli Jokinen

Hall of Fame
raph6 said:
Come on, Carlos was solid but JJ was committing a lot of UEs. Besides Carlos was not hitting his forehand at 100% and he won’t be able to win a Slam without this weapon at his disposal. This match means nothing, Carlos has the same level as a few weeks before in Madrid, and as much as I would love to see him lift the trophy, it looks unlikely if he is not back to top form and health
Click to expand...
I don't think he needed it in this match. He was cruising and saving his strength. Wolf was just useless.
 
Last edited:
Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
messiahrobins said:
He is saying in his presser he has low expectations and still feels weird in his arm. This is very new from Alcaraz and i wonder if his team have told him to cut out the bravado of last year when he was declaring himself a favourite. He is maturing before our eyes and i totally agree his A game is higher than anyone's on tour now.
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Really hope he delivers here.
 
Phenomenal

Phenomenal

Hall of Fame
messiahrobins said:
He was at 60% at most as well, just cruising.
If that arm holds up, we can give him the trophy. i am going to make a bold predictions here..while he wont beat Nadal's 14 RG as he is arguably too old already to realistically do it, i think he will get the record of consecutive FOs, i can see him winning 7 in a row!! Clay allows him to showcase all his artistery and he has a plan A, B, C and D!!
Click to expand...
I don't think you are aware how difficult is to win slams in a row or 7. See all past greats who couldn't win 6 in a row. You need to be consistently great and healthy to do that. Alcaraz first should win once(show everyone to his greatness) before talking about crazy predictions imo.
messiahrobins said:
Thats how i see it. I feel he will dominate Sinner on clay. Think Sinner will trouble him on hard courts. Grass i think could be epic see saw battles between them.
If Rafa makes the final i cannot see how he could beat alcaraz tbh. I just dont see where he can hit to , there is no get out of jail card. Djokovic has the same problem, although he does have a far better serve than Rafa which can keep Alcaraz honest, as that is Alcaraz's one area of weakness which is why Zverev can trouble him. For Rafa though playing Alcaraz would be a bit like playing himself to an extent from 20 years ago. Movement would be the key difference.
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I'm not confident as much as you with Rafa. Have doubts etc but if he reaches final i don't think Alcaraz or anyone can be favourite against him. Their movement difference is good point and i agree. But playing against confident Rafa at Chatrier is probably toughest thing in tennis. My thoughts before clay season was i only didn't want Nadal to face Alcaraz earlier rounds especially on night session. Now Nadal should just seek to survive very tough first round for me to consider his chances.
 
arvind13

arvind13

Professional
Jonesy said:
If both are peak Sinner will beat Alcaraz. But who knows, the injured generation might injure themselves out of the tournament before semis.
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alcaraz has more variety and weapons than sinner. dropshot, he has better volleys than sinner. sinner is a bigger hitter
 
M

messiahrobins

Legend
Phenomenal said:
I don't think you are aware how difficult is to win slams in a row or 7. See all past greats who couldn't win 6 in a row. You need to be consistently great and healthy to do that. Alcaraz first should win once(show everyone to his greatness) before talking about crazy predictions imo.

I'm not confident as much as you with Rafa. Have doubts etc but if he reaches final i don't think Alcaraz or anyone can be favourite against him. Their movement difference is good point and i agree. But playing against confident Rafa at Chatrier is probably toughest thing in tennis. My thoughts before clay season was i only didn't want Nadal to face Alcaraz earlier rounds especially on night session. Now Nadal should just seek to survive very tough first round for me to consider his chances.
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I was genuinely delighted Rafa got Zverev 1st round as to me he needed a big name asap. Its a defacto final while he is fresh. I get many saying he needed to build into the tournament but the thing there is that applies to all the top guys and Zverev is always much more dangerous after the first 3 rounds. Also, for Rafa if he can somehow win i think it changes everything for him confidence wise.
As for Alcaraz i agree, 7 in a row is exceptionally hard to do almost impossible. I just look at the guy and see the hallmarks of a GOAT level champion who will make his own records, something like 7 in a row could be an example. Sinner for instance i just dont see that at all.
 
Phenomenal

Phenomenal

Hall of Fame
messiahrobins said:
I was genuinely delighted Rafa got Zverev 1st round as to me he needed a big name asap. Its a defacto final while he is fresh. I get many saying he needed to build into the tournament but the thing there is that applies to all the top guys and Zverev is always much more dangerous after the first 3 rounds. Also, for Rafa if he can somehow win i think it changes everything for him confidence wise.
As for Alcaraz i agree, 7 in a row is exceptionally hard to do almost impossible. I just look at the guy and see the hallmarks of a GOAT level champion who will make his own records, something like 7 in a row could be an example. Sinner for instance i just dont see that at all.
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I disagree with some points but respect your opinion.
 
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