By Our Special Correspondent
Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz claimed his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open on Sunday, becoming the youngest man to ascend to the world No.1 ranking and cementing his status as the poster boy of tennis' new wave.
The 19-year-old dragged his weary body to a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 victory over Norway's Casper Ruud in the final. Alcaraz, the first teenager to claim the top ranking, is the youngest Grand Slam men's champion since his idol Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open. "Right now I'm enjoying the moment. I'm enjoying having the trophy in my hands. But, of course, I'm hungry for more," said Alcaraz. "I want to be in the top for many, many weeks and hopefully many years. I'm going to work hard again after this week, this amazing two weeks. I'm going to fight for more of this." Despite being at the vanguard of tennis' modern era, his performance on Sunday also contained elements of a bygone age - he won 15 points off 21 serve-and-volley attempts. On Sunday, he claimed the record for most time spent on court at a single Grand Slam, passing the 23 hours and 21 minutes it took Kevin Anderson to finish runner-up at Wimbledon in 2018. Much of his 23 hours and 40 minutes was taken up by the more than 13 hours it took him to play three successive five-setters to reach the final. He saved a match point in his five-hour, 15-minute quarterfinal win over Jannik Sinner. "Congratulations @carlosalcaraz for your first Grand Slam and for number 1, which is the culmination of your great season. I am sure there will be many more," tweeted the 22-time Slam title winner. The US Open is Alcaraz's fifth trophy of 2022 following Masters Triumphs in Miami and Madrid as well as Rio and Barcelona. It was in Madrid that he announced himself as a serious threat to the sport's heavyweights when he became the first man to defeat Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the same clay-court event. "Carlos was born to play these tournaments," said his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former No.1 and French Open champion. Defeat for Ruud, who was also vying for the world No.1 ranking, was his second in a Slam final in 2022 after he was routed by Nadal in the French Open. "It's incredibly impressive what he has achieved already as a teenager," said Ruud, who rose to No.2 in the world on Monday. "He's one of these few rare talents that come up every now and then in sports."
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