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The 2022 US Open title match between Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud was the youngest New York final by combined age since 1990, when a 19-year-old Pete Sampras beat a 20-year-old Andre Agassi to win his first major crown. Alcaraz was also 19 when he defeated Ruud, then 23, to win his maiden Grand Slam title and clinch a debut atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
The Spaniard will face an even younger opponent on Wednesday in his first Wimbledon quarter-final. Both he and Holger Rune are now 20, with the Top 10 stars born a week apart: Rune on 23 April 2003 and Alcaraz on 5 May.
The pair is only slightly older than Sampras and Agassi were when they met in New York in 1990. The American legends combined to win 22 Grand Slam singles titles and 28 ATP Masters 1000s and many tennis fans are projecting that Alcaraz and Rune could build a similar rivalry over the next 10-15 years.
While Sampras and Agassi had little in common as players apart from their nationalities, Alcaraz and Rune are cut from a similar cloth. Both can dominate from all parts of the court but are most dangerous from the baseline. Alcaraz does his damage with an unbridled sense of joy, while the fiery Rune wields a more steely disposition — but both are fearless no matter the opposition or the occasion.
Their Wednesday meeting will be the first Wimbledon quarter-final between two players under 21 in the Open Era.
“The young guys reaching their dreams,” Alcaraz said of the showdown, speaking on Monday after a four-set win against Matteo Berrettini. “Coming here and playing a quarter-final together is something great for tennis. Of course with Holger, we [played] at lots of tournaments when we were 12 years old. We grew up together, passing all the categories, playing great tournaments, so playing a quarter-final at a Grand Slam against him is something great and that I am going to enjoy.”
Rune shared similar sentiments after advancing to his first Wimbeldon quarter-final with a win against Grigor Dimitrov: “It’s great. It’s a good feeling. It shows that the young players are doing a great job,” he said, discussing the under-21 affair. “To be able to play a quarter-final against a player that is your same age, at the top of the rankings, feels amazing. I’m really looking forward to that match.
“I even looked at it when I was in the first round. I couldn’t really afford to look at it because there were so many matches before this would eventually happen. Now we’re here so I’m really pumped and excited for it.”
Holger Rune” />
Photo by Corinne Dubreuil.
Two of today’s brightest young stars, not just on the ATP Tour but across the sports landscape, Alcaraz and Rune have both excelled on the biggest stages early in their careers. The Spaniard owns four ATP Masters 1000 titles in addition to his US Open triumph, while Rune won his maiden Masters 1000 last November in Paris — beating five Top 10 opponents, including Alcaraz, along the way (Alcaraz retired with an abdominal injury after Rune built a 6-3, 6-6 lead in the quarter-finals).
Before their two tour-level meetings, the first of which came at the 2021 Next Gen ATP Finals, the friends played at least one tournament on the same side of the net in junior doubles. Rune played the backhand side, with Alcaraz singling out that shot on Monday as the one he would borrow from the Dane. Rune said he would take Alcaraz’s forehand drop shot, a world-beating weapon made all the more potent by the soft bounces on the Wimbledon lawns.
Holger Rune, Carlos Alcaraz” />
Rune and Alcaraz at the 2021 Next Gen ATP Finals. Photo by Peter Staples/ATP Tour.
One of the promotional taglines for the Next Gen ATP Finals, won by Alcaraz in 2021, is “See the future!” For Alcaraz and Rune, the future is now.
“I stay in the moment and I’m really, really eager to improve,” Rune said of his rapid rise in the men’s game. “To be honest, it doesn’t feel like I’m going really fast. But also, you see Alcaraz, he’s doing even better than me. It’s in a different way.
“I feel like I’m pushing every day. Of course, I admire the good results I make, but I have really high ambitions. I always search for more.”
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