Carlos Alcaraz was imperious at Wimbledon, and despite facing a few slow starts in the bulk of his matches, the final could not have been more different.
He blew Novak Djokovic away, neutralising the 24-time Grand Slam champion with an electric brand of tennis that lit up centre court.
However, this success had been brewing all season, and arguably the catalyst came way before he had even won the French Open too.
Jim Courier reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon preparation
Speaking to Tennis Channel after Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon triumph, his second in as many years, Jim Courier was effusive in his praise for the Spaniard.
After all, having put in such a dominant display in the final, he deserves all the adulation in the world.
However, shrouded within his comments was a piece of insight, where the 53-year-old pointed out the exact moment when he thinks the 21-year-old turned his season around.
He claimed: ‘He stays true to himself. The first time we saw him play some big matches at the majors, I remember him playing Tsitsipas at the US Open when he was 18 and he gets into the tiebreakers, all of a sudden, drop shots raining everywhere, fast and furious.
‘If he misses that drop shot in the breaker there’s a lot of people out there who say well that was a terrible time to do it, he choked if he missed it. But he makes it and it’s gumption.
‘That is who he is, but, I will say this, the key moment in his success in Paris and in Wimbledon… that happened in Indian Wells. That happened on the practice court in Indian Wells when Juan Carlos Ferrero started to rein in his offence and say you’ve got to be a little bit more patient.
‘He started to add a bit more percentage tennis to his game, because at that point he was searching. He played a horrible match against Zverev in the Australian Open. He was trying to find his form. He’d injured his ankle in Rio. And that tournament turned things around for him and showed him how to be the next-level Alcaraz.’
Carlos Alcaraz is turning into an unstoppable monster
After failing to win the Australian Open, and then injuring his ankle in Rio, it was a nightmare start to 2024 for Alcaraz.
People feared that his fine run, resulting in two Grand Slam titles, might be coming to an end as he levelled out into the rest of the pack. How wrong that proved to be.
With two of the three Grand Slam titles now under his belt for the year, he will have his eyes set on Olympic glory before striding into the US Open full of confidence.
Alcaraz then revealed how many Grand Slams he is aiming to win in his career, following this triumph.
If he is in form, there are few who can even compete with him, let alone stop him.
It really feels like, with the talent and physical prowess he possesses, the only one who can stop him from winning it all is himself.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
