When Carlos Alcaraz arrived at The Queen’s Club earlier this week, following the heartbreak at Roland Garros, he was struggling to find rhythm on the new surface. And it was only natural. It was Alcaraz’s third grass-court event in his career and first outside the Wimbledon. But the young Spaniard came a long way albeit in a week, before claiming his first ever grass-court title. The top-seeded defeated Australian Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 to lift the trophy at the Cinch Championships. And with the win, he dethroned Novak Djokovic to reclaim the ATP World No.1 ranking ahead of 2023 Wimbledon.
“It means a lot to me. Being able to win this amazing tournament in my first time that I played here for me is fantastic,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview. “To know that I’m [capable of] a good level on grass, obviously [to be] champion of every tournament feels special.”
This was Alcaraz’s fifth ATP title win this season, going level with Daniil Medvedev for the Tour-lead, and 11th overall in his career. With the title, the 20-year-old became the youngest tennis player to lift a trophy on each of the surfaces since Lleyton Hewitt (19 years and 3 months). He also the fourth active player on tour after Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray to win at least one title on all three surfaces, at the ATP 500 or above level.
Heading into his maiden appearance at The Queen’s, Alcaraz had a 4-2 record on grass. In his two appearances in Wimbledon – 2021 and 2022 – he suffered a second-round and fourth-round exit respectively. He suffered an early hiccup in his opener at The Queen’s before escaping the final set tie-break against Arthur Rinderknech, but the US Open champion surged to a title win without dropping a set in his next matches.
On Sunday, Alcaraz saved two break points in the eighth game of the first set, broke in the next game and then served out for the set. He then won the only break point of the second set, when De Minaur double-faulted, and sealed the title on his first match point when the Australian sent a return long.
Alcaraz will next be seen in the Hurlingham Classic exhibition event next week, joining Djokovic, in his final preparation for Wimbledon.
