Carlos Alcaraz will kickstart his title defence at Queen’s tomorrow, and has been pictured training in the West Kensington complex in the run-up.
He will face off against a whole host of stars in this prestigious ATP 500 event, with the likes of Ben Shelton, Holger Rune, Grigor Dimitrov and Alex de Minaur just four of the many who will be vying to dethrone the Spaniard.
Fresh from his French Open triumph, this marks the 21-year-old’s first foray into grass-court competition this season, and thus some kind of acclimatisation period is to be expected.
However, the manner in which he has gone about preparing for the event has drawn questions, after he did something completely out of the ordinary late last week.
Carlos Alcaraz plays strange practice set before Queen’s
Facing Francisco Cerundolo in the first round, a tough draw against the in-form Argentine, it is just the beginning of what promises to be a torrid run to the final, should he reach it.
So, his preparation must be perfect to ensure he does not lose further ground in the race to overthrow Jannik Sinner as the world number one.
However, journalist Jose Morgado has since detailed the strange thing that Alcaraz has now done, which normally never happens before a tournament.
He wrote: ‘Alcaraz and Cerundolo playing a practice set just before meeting in R1? That usually *never* happens ahah.’
These two have never actually faced one another on the ATP Tour ever, and so this might have been an amicable decision made in which each player felt like they might get a better read on their opponent with such a pre-tournament event.
Nevertheless, it denotes an odd thing to do in the wake of their first-round clash.
Carlos Alcaraz faces a really tough Queen’s run
Cerundolo marks just the first in a long line of great opponents that the reigning champion will have to defeat if he is to retain his title.
Carlos Alcaraz’s Queen’s draw has commanded huge attention from the tennis community due to its difficulty, with the 25-year-old, his first-round opponent, merely scratching the surface.
Should he bypass him, the three-time Grand Slam champion will then be forced to face off against Jack Draper, fresh from winning his first ATP title on this surface.
Overcoming the big-serving Briton will mark an impressive feat, and Alcaraz will then be rewarded with a match against one of Tommy Paul or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Then, Grigor Dimitrov or Ugo Humbert will await him in the semi-finals, before one of the the stars of the other half of the draw like Shelton, Rune, De Minaur or Taylor Fritz are expected to be.
Should he still hold the trophy at the end of this week, Alcaraz will deserve huge praise.
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