John McEnroe makes ‘surprising’ Carlos Alcaraz admission after Fabio Fognini scare
John McEnroe believes Carlos Alcaraz has been warned that he can’t afford to underestimate players at Wimbledon after he flirted with a shock first-round defeat at the hands of Fabio Fognini.
Alcaraz stepped onto Centre Court with a 14-0 win streak at the grass-court Grand Slam as he has won the last two editions while he also won his last 18 top-level matches as he started the tournament on the back of title runs at the Italian Open, French Open and Queen’s Club.
And it all went according to plan early on against Fognini, who had announced this was his last Wimbledon appearance, before the Italian gave the five-time major winner a big scare.
After Alcaraz went two sets to one up, he stumbled in the fourth and the veteran broke twice to take it to a decider, but the Spaniard eventually found his mojo again to win 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Tennis great McEnroe admits he was flabbergasted by the defending champion’s performance.
“He [Fognini] played really well, Carlos looked like he was as flat as a pancake. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps he assumed that this Fognini would fall away pretty easily. His serve was off, his forehand was, for me to see him play like that, was surprising. Some of it I’ve got to give Fognini credit,” the former world No 1 told BBC Sport.
“But he was up a set and 4-2, he should have won the second set. He was up 4-2 or 5-3 in the third, and he barely pulled that set out. He got blown out in the fourth.
“It’s a good wake-up call for him. He won Queen’s, everything was perfect, same as last year: wins the French, pulls out an incredible match, goes and parties in Ibiza with his buddies, comes to Queen’s, almost loses early but wins it. The prep’s pretty similar.”
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After successfully defending his French Open crown, Alcaraz opted to take a break as he spent time with friends in Ibiza before returning to action at Queen’s where he was tested by Jaume Munar in the second round, but ended up winning the title.
McEnroe, though, was full of praise for the 38-year-old Fognini, who is set to bow out of tennis after more than two decades as a professional.
“It’s one of the most interesting first-round matches that I’ve seen, that I can recall off the top of my head, here at Wimbledon. I think the conditions helped that to some degree,” the American said.
“Fognini is a guy who rises to the occasion. This guy hadn’t won a match since the fall, none, he’s losing in Challengers first round. The grass-court season led you to believe he’d lose first round in straight sets.
“But he plays differently than most players, he’s old school. He takes the ball early, hits it pretty flat, he hits it very clean. He was clearly playing well at the beginning and milking in this atmosphere, being able to go out on the Centre Court of Wimbledon instead of Court 16, somewhere.”
