Comparing Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz's first French Open finals: Who did it better?
Third seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain beat Jannik Sinner of Italy 2-6 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3 in the French Open semifinal last Friday, June 7. The 21-year-old Spaniard thus reached his first final at Roland Garros and will face Alexander Zverev on Sunday.
Alcaraz will aim to become the fourth Spaniard to win the French Open in the 21st century. The others to have accomplished this include Albert Costa, the World No. 3's coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and of course, Rafael Nadal, who has won the clay-court Major 14 times.
Alcaraz has often been compared to Rafael Nadal and as he looks to win his maiden French Open, let's see how his first run to the tournament's final matches to that of the 14-time champion.
Rafael Nadal was younger than Carlos Alcaraz when he reached his first French Open final:
Nadal was merely a 19-year-old when he reached his first French Open final in 2005. Nadal, seeded fourth that year, lost only three sets in the whole tournament, one each against Sebastian Grosjean in the fourth round, Roger Federer in the semifinal and Mariano Puerta in the final. He beat Lars Burgsmuller, Xavier Malisse, Richard Gasquet and David Ferrer in his other matches in the tournament.
Four out of the seven players Nadal beat at that year's French Open were seeded ones (Gasquet, Ferrer, Federer and Grosjean). However, only Federer out of them was seeded inside the top 10. Puerta was relatively unfancied as a player, but a clay-court specialist.
It was his maiden Grand Slam title, but he had already been making waves in the tennis world with his prowess on clay courts. The Spaniard had already beaten clay-court specialists like Carlos Moya and Guilermo Coria before his first triumph at Roland Garros.
In comparison, Alcaraz came into this year's French Open as a two-time Grand Slam champion. Had it not been for an unlucky injury in last year's semifinal against Novak Djokovic, the young Spaniard might have reached the final in 2023 itself.
Carlos Alcaraz has exhibited great level this year at Roland Garros
Carlos Alcaraz has lost three sets in six matches in the ongoing tournament so far. Two of them were against Sinner in the semifinal. Out of the six players the young Spaniard has beaten, four (Sebastian Korda, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Sinner) were seeded . Two of them (Sinner and Tsitsipas) were top-10 seeds.
Beating each of Korda, Auger-Aliassime and Korda in straight sets was a commendable feat undoubtedly. Moreover, in the last two sets of the semifinal against Sinner, Alcaraz exhibited a brilliant level. The way he defended the width of the baseline was wonderful and reminiscent of the way Nadal did it some 15 years ago.
Moreover, Carlos Alcaraz is also better at the net than Nadal was in his early days and has a better forehand, too. The younger Spaniard is also better at playing the drop shots and lobs than Nadal ever was. Nadal's forehand, however, became more powerful as the years progressed and also has a vicious top-spin in it that Alcaraz's lacks.
There has been no champion more dominant on a surface than Nadal has been on clay. However, one is tempted to say that Alcaraz has exhibited a slightly better level this year than the King of Clay did in 2005 to reach his first Grand Slam final.
However, in this context, it also has to be noted that Carlos Alcaraz has already been an accomplished player with two Grand Slams to his name while Nadal was still on his way up.