Australian Open: Carlos Alcaraz told he will ‘need to go into fifth and sixth gear’ against Alexander Zverev
Mats Wilander waxed lyrical about Carlos Alcaraz and his “million dollar smile” after his demolition job of Alex de Minaur at the Australian Open, but the former world No 1 also sent a warning ahead of his next clash.
Following back-to-back quarter-final exits from the season-opening Grand Slam, Alcaraz reached a new milestone at Melbourne Park as he has reached the semi-final for the first time in his career.
The six-time Grand Slam winner produced an emphatic display as he brushed aside Australian hope and sixth seed Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 to set up a last-four clash with third seed Alexander Zverev, who beat Learner Tien in four sets.
It was a typically high-octane performance from Alcaraz that got the crowd at Rod Laver Arena on their feet, and also once again left an impression on Eurosport and TNT Sports tennis expert Wilander.
“He should have [got to more AO semi-finals] but a lot of players have one place where they don’t feel that comfortable, and it could have something to do with the surface, something to do with the weather, something to do with the schedule,” the Swede said.
“I think a lot of guys didn’t do necessarily that well in Australia because it comes early in the year and they might not be as prepared or they need coffee. So, it’s not that strange to me, but when you see him playing like this, then suddenly, it is very strange.
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“We’ve just seen how gracious Carlos is when Jim [Courier] was speaking to him. The sportsmanship is unbelievable. He is such a good ambassador for our sport. The smile is just a million-dollar smile.
“I mean, he’s so good for our sports, Carlos Alcaraz. It’s incredible that we have him after the Big Three – we suddenly get so lucky to have Carlitos Alcaraz as the number one in the world.”
Alcaraz has reached the last four without dropping a set, but a bigger test awaits as Zverev has a good record against Alcaraz compared to most other players, with their head-to-head rivalry level at 6-6.
The German has been particularly good on serve, although he has lost four sets during his five matches so far.
Wilander added: “He will probably go into fourth gear against Sacha Zverev. He probably needs to go into five and six that’s for sure because this is a step up against Zverev because he serves so much better than Di Minaur and you’re gonna have a problem returning that serve. But he’s got so many gears.
“And the thing is, with him, and it’s not the same with, like a Novak Djokovic or a Jannik Sinner as they don’t shift down to gear one or two. But Carlos sometimes goes down to one or two and he still gets away with it.”
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