Tim Henman has delivered his immediate reaction to Carlos Alcaraz reaching the Wimbledon final today, beating Taylor Fritz in four tough sets.
It was always going to be a lengthy battle against the big-serving American, who kept the match close throughout.
However, he showcased his physical and mental toughness, married to his obvious technical quality, to secure his spot in Sunday’s showdown.
He now awaits his opponent: one of Jannik Sinner or Novak Djokovic.
Henman was one of many left stunned by Carlos Alcaraz’s performance, with Centre Court, bathed in red-hot sunshine, taking in a terrific display.
In fact, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist and BBC pundit pinpointed the one thing the Spaniard did, which he branded ‘scary’.
Tim Henman reacts to Carlos Alcaraz reaching the Wimbledon final
Speaking live on the BBC, he stood beside John McEnroe, gushing in his praise for Alcaraz.
And with good reason, as a near-perfect afternoon of serving paved the way for his victory. He has now reached a third-straight Wimbledon final and will be the heavy favourite to take the title no matter who his opponent is.
After all, he boasts a 92% win rate on grass now across his professional career, having claimed multiple titles at grass-court events like Queen’s and these Championships.
Henman reacted to that statistic with wonder: “When you take into account his age and he doesn’t play a massive amount on grass, it’s two tournaments a year normally in Queen’s and Wimbledon. It’s scary how his game is evolving. We see him using the serve and volley, the drop shot all the time.
“I think it’s pretty intimidating for the rest of the field.”
Such was the nature of Alcaraz’s win, Andre Agassi sent a heartfelt message to Fritz as he slowly made his way off the court, head bowed.
Tim Henman explains why Carlos Alcaraz is so difficult to play against
This was not all Henman had to say about the 22-year-old, unsurprisingly. In fact, it felt like he could have gone on for days listing all the reasons why Alcaraz astounds.
However, he honed in on the very reason why the five-time Grand Slam champion is so difficult to play against, with all different kinds of play styles failing to disrupt him.
Henman admitted: “You just see his skillset whether he’s smashing those ground strokes from the back of the court or he’s playing the drop shot or the lob. This is where he is just so difficult to play against. He has so many strings to his bow, where do you attack?”
On his way to the final, Alcaraz has beaten the unpredictable Fabio Fognini, two huge servers in Jan-Lennard Struff and Fritz, a dangerous hard-hitter in Andrey Rublev and a relentless battler in Cam Norrie.
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