Carlos Alcaraz cruised into the fourth round of the French Open 2024 after a stunning win against Sebastian Korda on Friday. On his way to victory, Alcaraz smashed a spectacular forehand as a winner in one of the points.
Renowned for his slap-style forehand shot, the Spaniard successfully played it once during the second set of the match. When the score was 6-4, 1-1 (15-0), the 21-year-old slid on clay to his right and played that shot.
The American broadcasters of the French Open, Tennis Channel put up a special social media post around it. But it hasn’t got the desired result because fans lashed out at being asked whether the forehand reminded them of someone else.
While the Tennis Channel had hoped to excite fans by drawing a comparison between Alcaraz and most likely, the 2009 US Open champion, Juan Martin del Potro, it was a futile exercise. Most fans started mocking Tennis Channel by saying that Alcaraz reminds them of no one else but Alcaraz himself.
One of them even directly pleaded to stop comparing him with the 14-time French Open champion and the youngster’s childhood idol, Rafael Nadal.
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Carlos Alcaraz has a strong fanbase who took on American broadcasters, Tennis Channel. pic.twitter.com/HZOSVEl3yA
— Wide World of Tennis (@tennisfan_dkr) June 1, 2024
Carlos Alcaraz indeed plays that shot quite often. However, despite it being his trademark shot, Alcaraz hasn’t utilized it enough in this French Open. It is due to his arm injury concerns that might not enable him to hit the forehands properly.
Despite Injury Concerns, Carlos Alcaraz Always Goes for the Kill
Carlos Alcaraz’s forehand slap-shot against Sebastian Korda might just be the shot of the tournament. For now, tennis fans are rejoicing seeing his form and aren’t too worried about him. With these kinds of shots, Alcaraz too has given hope that he could be the favorite to win the title.
Wary about the possibility of getting injured again, this is what the Spaniard had to say about it.
“No, I’m still a little scared. Respect when hitting is going to take a while to go away. The feeling I have is that if I notice it once it is enough to think about things. Every time I hit it 100% in training or games I have that hum in my head,” said Alcaraz [as per Marca via Sportskeeda].
Carlos Alcaraz is one player who would never be defensive but rather play his trademark power shots to obliterate his opponents. Alcaraz dominated against Korda in the first and third sets, giving almost no room to the American for a comeback. It was only in the second set that Korda led a fightback and took it to a tiebreaker. But Alcaraz won that too.
The reigning Wimbledon champion’s fourth round opponent will be Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime and is likely to take place on Sunday, not before 5 AM EST and will air live on Eurosport in Europe and on Tennis Channel, NBC Sports, and Peacock in the US.
