Champion Carlos Alcaraz has fought through the first crisis of his Wimbledon reign and found his best tennis at a delicate moment to turn the tide against his friend Frances Tiafoe and advance to the round of 16.
Watched by Rain Man star Dustin Hoffman under the Centre Court roof in pouring rain, Alcaraz put on his best Marathon Man imitation, getting stronger and stronger as the highly entertaining match progressed and eventually winning 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 after three hours and 50 minutes.
But the defending champion was in for a real scare: he endured a strangely sluggish afternoon against his great American friend until the real danger came when he was two sets to one down at 4-4 in the fourth set and trailing 0-30 on serve.
Just like at the 2022 US Open, when the pair contested an epic semi-final, Alcaraz put in his best performance and won the next four points, capped off by a 210 km/h ace.
This year he won his first Grand Slam title and the form he showed in the closing stages of the fourth set and throughout the fifth suggested that if he can maintain this level of excellence over a sustained period, he will continue to be the man to beat.
“I had a lot of difficult moments in the fourth set and thought to myself: ‘Fight one more ball.’ In the tiebreak I tell myself that I have to try. If I lose, I lose,” the 21-year-old explained to the audience afterwards.
Things must have certainly become easier for the young champion when 26-year-old Tiafoe, who was wearing a knee brace after spraining his right knee at the Queen’s Club, aggravated his injury with an unfortunate fall in the tiebreak.
Having saved the day, Alcaraz relaxed and began to pull out all the stops in the deciding set, finishing off the late supershow with a very fine backhand dropshot winner.
But Tiafoe, who has had a poor season and slipped to No. 30 in the rankings after being in the top 10 this time last year and complaining about losing to “clowns,” delivered one of his best performances in a long time, outplaying the oddly reserved Alcaraz for much of the first three and a half sets.
Exactly 49 years ago to the day, Arthur Ashe became the first black man to win Wimbledon and Tiafoe, whose parents are from Sierra Leone, played as if he believed he could follow in the footsteps of the late great player.
But once Alcaraz discovered his mojo, there could only be one winner, as the third-seeded player faced either American Brandon Nakashima or 16th-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the round of 16.
On another wet day at a rainy Wimbledon, with two long interruptions due to play on the outside courts, 33-year-old Grigor Dimitrov, the No. 10 seed, made quick work of 37-year-old Gael Monfils in a battle of veterans, winning 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Queen’s Club champion Tommy Paul, seeded 12th, also looked good, continuing his brilliant grass-court summer by defeating 23rd seed Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.