The 2024 Wimbledon Championships have featured marathon after marathon, and Carlos Alcaraz is unquestionably the marathon man.
No, not in the way that John Isner was in terms of frequency and length–but in the way that he simply cannot lose when a match goes the distance.
Alcaraz improved to 12-1 lifetime in five-setters when he overcame Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 during third-round action at the All-England Club on Friday afternoon. Tiafoe undoubtedly played his best match of an otherwise disappointing 2024 campaign, but Alcaraz once again came up with the goods when it mattered most to prevail in three hours and 50 minutes.
The 21-year-old’s only five-set loss has come to Matteo Berrettini in round three of the 2022 Australian Open. Alcaraz won the recent French Open final in five sets over Alexander Zverev and upset Novak Djokovic in five sets in last summer’s Wimbledon championship match. On his way to the 2022 U.S. Open title Alcaraz survived five-set epics against Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals and Tiafoe in the semis.
“In the fifth set I think I increase my tennis, my level,” Alcaraz said following Friday’s victory. “I feel great physically and that helps a lot to play more calmly than the opponent. I feel much better than the opponent physically and mentally. I know that the other guy has to play at a really high level of tennis and intensity in the fifth set if he wants to beat me. That helps me a lot to deal much better with those difficult situations in the fifth set.
“I’m playing with the stats that I just lost one match in the fifth set. That’s an advantage for me. That’s why I am feeling really, really [good] physically and in my head I’m thinking that I’m good in the [fifth] and have the belief that I am going to win–I’m going to play my best tennis. In every match that I’ve played five sets, I played really close (to) or my best tennis. I realized that I’m good at it and I believe that I’m going to win.”
That kind of mentality would serve everyone on tour quite well, especially at this 2024 Wimbledon event because it seems like every man in the draw has gone the distance at least once. Okay, maybe not every man. But we are on a record five-set pace. There have already been 30 matches decided in a fifth set, four away from the Open Era Wimbledon record and five off the overall Grand Slam record. There have also been a whopping nine comebacks from two sets down.
And we aren’t even halfway through the third round. With rain having postponed play on Friday, Ugo Humbert vs. Brandon Nakashima is one tiebreaker away from going to a fifth set. Fabio Fognini vs. Roberto Bautista Agut is one game away from going to a fifth set. Daniil Medvedev vs. Jan-Lennard Struff is one set away from going to a fifth set.
It has made for a fun first week at the All-England Club, because who doesn’t love a five-setter?!?!
Well, anyone who plays one against Carlos Alcaraz.
