Why Carlos Alcaraz couldn’t take the classic photo with the Eiffel Tower :: Olé

“I’m going to get a tattoo for sure on my left ankle and it will be the Eiffel Tower and today’s date. I don’t know if it will be in the next few weeks, one or two months, but I’m going to do it.” Minutes after touching the Paris sky, Carlos Alcaraz He said that the Roland Garros title will be on his skin forever. The 21-year-old Spanish tennis player the iconic monument of the capital of France will be stamped. However, The classic photo with the trophy and the tower in the background cannot be saved that the champions usually win on the day after the title in this Grand Slam. Alcaraz must have posed in one of the stalls at the Philippe Chatrier.

According to what the organizers of Roland Garros reported, the reason why Alcaraz could not have the image of the Musketeers Cup next to the Eiffel Tower was because The security operation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has already been deployed in the area. In addition, a stadium is being built in the Campo de Marte gardens, on the other side of the tower, which will host beach volleyball competitions during the Games.

In the 14 opportunities that Rafael Nadal won Roland Garros, the next day he visited different parts of Paris with his fetish trophy, such as the Eiffel Tower, Euro Disney or a boat on the Seine or some mythical bridge in the French capital.

Alcaraz will return to Paris precisely to compete in the Olympic Games, from July 26 to August 11. There he will not only dream of winning gold in singles, but will also try to celebrate in doubles with his idol Rafael Nadal.

20 years passed. We had to wait two decades to see a Philippe Chatrier champion other than a member of the Big 3 or Stan Wawrinka again., who slipped into the midst of the greatest in history in 2015. Well, especially one other than Rafael Nadal, master and lord of the Parisian brick dust with 14 titles. The rest were distributed Novak Djokovic (three consecrations) and Roger Federer (only one, in 2009). But that streak came to an end and may have meant a break, given that this time the Musketeers Cup was in the hands of Carlos Alcaraz (3rd), who beat Alexander Zverev (4th) in a great match 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1 and 6-2 in 4h20m.

There is little doubt that Alcaraz is a generational talent. In charge of crossing out marks in the sport of rackets, He became the first to achieve three Grand Slam titles on different surfaces at just 21 years old.. And he was also the first to win the Roland Garros title having been 1-2 in sets in both the semi-finals and final. And if there is one detail that characterizes him above his technical skills, it is his claw. The hunger for glory and the desire to write new pages of history. With mistakes and successes, he moves forward. As if Rafa had given him his legacy, he did not give up, he squeezed the most competitive version of him when his legs did not respond and he reversed a match that seemed more than complex.

The analysis of the match could be divided into two, since the differences were very marked. During the first and fourth quarters, the Murcian dictated the game at his own pace. The music he wanted was danced: changes in heights, heavy forehands, dropshots and solidity from the back of the court. However, in the second and third sets there was another Zverev. And a dingy Alcaraz. The German punished with the backhand, stood a meter further along the baseline, took control of the points and accounted for each of his rival’s errors.

Now, the fifth and final round was missing. The one that was going to put an end to the clay tour in the most emblematic setting. AND Alcaraz, who had already requested medical assistance for the second time in the afternoon and was trying to escape the cramps, showed the shark’s fang, while Sascha did not have the exact harpoon to stop his march.. Of course, when he had the possibility of recovering the Spaniard’s quick break, the chair umpire marked a possible double fault by Alcaraz as good and he was left empty-handed. Then, Carlitos took advantage of the tension of his rival, escaped critical moments and finished cooking up a more than special victory for his career. One that puts him back in the fight for No. 1 and that definitively establishes him as one of the two great talents of this new generation..

With his victory on the clay at Roland Garros, his third Grand Slam conquest (he won the US Open and Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023, respectively), Alcaraz began to make a place for himself in tennis history. Like him, with three coronations, there are only five more: Arthur Ashe, Gustavo Kuerten, Jan Kodeš, Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka. With more than three, the list is getting smaller and smaller…

With his latest conquest, at the 2023 US Open, Novak Djokovic achieved something unique: reaching Margaret Court as the tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles, with 24 consecrations. Nole left behind Steffi Graf (22) and Serena Williams (23). Now, she shares the top of the tennis world with the Australian, who won 11 Australian Open (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971 and 1973), 5 Roland Garros (1962, 1964, 1969, 1970 and 1973), 3 Wimbledon (1963, 1965 and 1970) and 5 US Open (1962, 1964, 1969, 1970 and 1973).

Nole, who surpassed Rafael Nadal (22) and Roger Federer (20), has 10 Australian Open (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023), 3 Roland Garros (2016 , 2021 and 2023), 7 Wimbledon (2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022) and 4 US Open (2011, 2015, 2018 and 2023).

Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi (8)

John McEnroe and Mats Wilander (7)

Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker (6)

Rod Laver and John Newcombe (5)

Ken Rosewall, Guillermo Vilas and Jim Courier (4)

Arthur Ashe, Gustavo Kuerten, Jan Kodeš, Andy Murray, Stanislas Wawrinka and Carlos Alcaraz (3)

Stan Smith, Marat Safin, Ilie Năstase, Johan Kriek, Lleyton Hewitt, Patrick Rafter, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Sergi Bruguera (2)

Brian Teacher, Adriano Panatta, Petr Korda, Mark Edmondson, Pat Cash, Carlos Moyá, Vitas Gerulaitis, Michael Chang, Goran Ivanišević, Andrés Gimeno, Andrés Gómez, Thomas Johansson, Roscoe Tanner, Michael Stich, Albert Costa, Manuel Orantes, Thomas Muster , Juan Carlos Ferrero, Yannick Noah, Richard Krajicek, Andy Roddick, Gastón Gaudio, Juan Martín del Potro, Marin Čilić, Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner (1)