Carlos Alcaraz made his Argentina Open debut and began to captivate the crowd in his match vs. Laszlo Jere

Carlos Alcaraz, 19 years old and number 2 in the world tennis rankingsset foot in the cathedral of white sports in the territory of the albiceleste and began to make the public fall in love with it Argentine Open which filled the main court with about 5,000 souls. He did it with a sample of his hierarchy in his debut in it ATP 250 Buenos Aires, in which he preceded the Serb Laszlo Jere 6-2 in the first set of the first round, although his opponent later managed to win the second 6-4, perhaps weighing on the Spaniard for his four months of injury inactivity.

From the start, Djere knew he had to adjust his shots as much as possible if he wanted to break such an enemy. But Alcaraz went and went and reached and reached with this fitness nadaleska which give him his very fresh 19 years but that too, logically, is very characteristic of him.

The Spaniard does not spare efforts. Facing the quiet of the warm but respectful crowd at Guillermo Villa’s center court, Alcaraz’s gasp after every hit was palpable even when he was playing on the far side of the net.

This typical talent of Grand Slam champions or world number 1 was immediately noticed, both excellent conditions that this very young tennis player has already won. In that first part of the game he did little or nothing wrong, hit forehands, backhands and even drop shots of similar quality, completely comfortable and extremely demanding.

(Argentine Open Press)

Although without finesse, he knew how to show off and slowly, with strokes like a parallel right dug out of the basement of brick dust that one wondered how he managed to execute from the measure of 85 (it’s not a tower, but it’s not a goblin either) was conquering the Argentinian public prosecutor who applauded him a lot, yes, but didn’t applaud him at that first presentation. As if he was still studying it, as if he was marking his ground and saying “this is where the cheers are won.”

It took Alcaraz a set to win it, of course. Before the start of the second set, the crowd finally surrendered to that “olé olé, Carlos, Carlos” that had been saved when the Spaniard entered the court.

Tennis has something that may be difficult for those who are not used to it to understand: when you start to wish “bad” on the one you encourage, especially when it is neutral and even more so when it is a phenomenon. That’s what happened to Alcaraz when he set up a break point to take 3-2 and serve: the crowd started cheering for Djere. Sudden change of loved one? Of course not: wishing he hadn’t set the game so fast so he could watch it longer. This time, it turned out: the Serb won the game. Although this can complicate things later.

Because the heavy climate of a Buenos Aires that has spent days of extreme heat plus the official inactivity of more than a quarter was not a little. Support for the Spaniard returned when a slight slump put the No.2 on the ropes: 3-4 and 0-40. And there he again showed the stuff greats are made of: sheer composure and hierarchy to turn the game around and level things, though a Djere fighter later took the singles 6-4.

The process was not easy. Djere played much closer to his world number 27 version than the current 57. Much closer to what he achieved in 2023 first win against a top 10 (against Casper Ruud in Auckland) than he had lost his previous 7 fights against opponents in this ranking of the scale.