The extraordinary is becoming pretty ordinary for Carlos Alcaraz, but it was still very surprising for his opponent and the “noisy” fans on Rod Laver Arena when he pulled off a quite outrageous lob when it was not expected at the Australian Open. Alcaraz showed his class from very early on in the third-round clash with a flashy winner on the opening point, and he continued to delight thereafter.
Carlos Alcaraz was at his brilliant best once more in his third-round encounter with Shang Juncheng at the Australian Open on Saturday. From a round-the-net stunner in the previous round, to this.
The fans inside Rod Laver Arena knew right from the outset that the Spaniard was at his electric best as he flashed a rasping backhand winner down the line to win the opening point of the match on poor Shang’s serve.
He certainly did not ease off in the slightest as he pounded several clean winners, before he produced the best shot at 1-1 and 15-30 on his opponent’s serve early in the first set as he stamped his authority on proceedings in a big way.
Shang could hardly have done any more as he fired down a perfectly-strong first serve that forced his opponent wide on his backhand side, then slammed a superb volley cross-court to have him back at full stretch once more.
But Alcaraz produced the ultimate response – and a surprising one at that. With both flanks to aim for with an expected and regular winner, he instead decided to take on the much lower-percentage lob.
With a flick of the wrists, he sent a gorgeous lob sailing over Shang’s head and right into the back of the court for a sublime showboat that delighted his supporters.
As Shang frantically back-pedalled to no avail, it was very clear that he was not expecting the shot at all.
Eurosport commentators Lee Goodall and Lucie Ahl were understandably taken aback by the moment of brilliance.
“Oh, hello! Life with Carlos Alcaraz!” exclaimed Goodall. “It’s a noisy crowd!”
Ahl added: “Wow, unbelievable! I mean, A) the surprise, and B) the awareness of what shot to play.
“Shang had no clue that was going up over the top of him.”
Alcaraz is eyeing a maiden Australian Open crown this fortnight with two Grand Slams already to his name at the US Open and Wimbledon.
With Rafael Nadal out injured, fellow Spaniard and Eurosport expert Alex Corretja has declared that “we are changing the king”.
