Carlos Alcaraz is through to the last eight of the French Open after a four-set victory over Ben Shelton.
The Spanish sensation was once again in fine form, and in truth, he perhaps could have defeated the American performer in straight sets.
Next up for Alcaraz is a test against Tommy Paul – another American – with the 28-year-old eyeing retribution for his defeat at Wimbledon last year.
Alcaraz does appear to be on a mission, however, to dominate on clay and quite clearly he fancies his chances of being very successful on this surface during his career.
Mark Petchey says Carlos Alcaraz has rare skill that Roger Federer had
Petchey will be busy getting Emma Raducanu ready for Wimbledon after her second-round exit at the French Open, and he’s been doing some pundit duties on TNT Sports.
After watching Alcaraz win against Shelton, he’s shared what he thought of the performance and admitted that one of his rare skills reminds him very much of the legendary Roger Federer.
He said: “The thing about Carlos, whenever you watch him and whenever you see him on an order of play, I don’t care even if it is a complete one-sided affair where he is dominating. He is able to carry a tennis match in the same way that Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy at times can carry tennis matches.
“You can take away something from that, even if it’s a 1 and 2 or it’s a four setter today, you are going to go back and think I want to go back and watch this guy play tennis. He does things on a tennis court that very, very few players can do.”
What Mark Petchey thought of Carlos Alcaraz’s brilliant sportsmanship
There was a lovely moment in the second set when Alcaraz told the umpire to award the point to Shelton, despite originally giving it to the Spaniard.
During another entertaining point, Alcaraz simply threw his racket at the ball and managed to get it over the net, but as per the rules, he wasn’t holding the equipment, so he couldn’t win the point.
The umpire couldn’t be sure and awarded Alcaraz the point, before changing his mind following an intervention from the reigning champion himself.
Petchey thought it was a nice moment and added: “I would like to know if he had lost the first set, if he would have done it! No, I think he would have done it even if he lost the first set before everyone got triggered.
“There are players who 100% would not have given that, and we don’t have video replay here, so they would have got away with it.
“What I thought was quite interesting was that Ben was almost getting offended that he was given the point because he also wants to win fairly.
“When you are at the top of the game, you do want to win fairly, you will not take points you know you didn’t win, and that was one of those classic examples.”
Ultimately, it was a great moment for the sport and served to highlight exactly how much class Alcaraz possesses as one of the game’s most likeable characters.
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