Carlos Alcaraz, the finals at the Mutua Madrid Open are looming

Carlos Alcaraz will leave puberty behind tomorrow at the Manolo Santana stadium, with the Croatian Borna Corić (16:00, La 1) on the other side of the net and on the horizon is the new final of the Madrid Masters 1000, the second in a row, and the title between the eyebrows.

The ATP sets the age of twenty as the beginning of adulthood. And the one that the second in the world and the current champion of the Madrid tournament will reach this Friday in the semi-finals, where he will play against Ćorić.

This anniversary is already common at the tournament in Madrid, a traditional celebration in A magic box. For the three years that the El Palmar player has been on the circuit as a professional, his anniversary coincides with this event. In addition, the celebration is performed without masking. It’s sound acting. Something that does not go unnoticed.

While Rafael Nadal birthday in full Roland Garros, where he triumphed the most, Alcaraz blows out the candles in Madrid. The first one, in which he came of age, was special. Two seasons ago.

Then he arrived at Caja Mágica at 17, as a guest of the tournament, as a great promise and an open future. But with baggage yet to be created. He came of age in the match against Nadal. It was a dream for the tennis player from El Palmar, to be face to face with his idol for the first time.

With a clenched hand, constricted by the size of the center court, the reverberation of the rank and the size of the opponent, he barely faced a shot on the court and fell headlong in the second round. It didn’t go any further.

A season later he turned nineteen against the British Cameron Norrie. Like fresh air in Spanish tennis, a new illusion, a relay. It was the third round, but Alcaraz had already distinguished himself on the track. He won his first titles and was a real racket in his hands.

The public sang happy birthday to him after winning the match. A gift cake from the organization appeared on the track. In the quarterfinals, he faced Nadal and beat him for the first time. Novak Djokovic also triumphed in the semifinals. And in the final to Alexander Zverev. The Spaniard came out with the title under his arm.

This time, Alcaraz leaves adolescence behind. Murcian becomes older in the semi-final match in which he starts as the favorite, against Croat Borna Ćorić, the 20th ranked tennis player in the world. The final is looming and also, a little further, number one in the world. And all the history that lies before us.

“My dream is to be one of the best tennis players in history. It is a very big dream, probably too big. But in this world you have to dream and think big. I want to be part of that group of the best players in history and I will work for that,” he says.

Alcaraz will play another semi-final on Friday. Sixth in the season. A part that is usual for the second player in the world, who in the six tournaments so far this year has always won a place among the top four.

Due to injury, he missed the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season, but in February he played a tournament in Buenos Aires where he defeated Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the final, with whom he lost the title match in Rio de Janeiro, his second event of the course.

He defeated Daniil Medvedev at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament and Stefan Tsitsipas in Barcelona. The only competition where he did not reach the finals was the Masters 1000 in Miami, where he was prevented from success by Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals.

With three trophies so far in 2023 — nine in total — and one final, the one in Rio this season — three in his career — Alcaraz faces the decisive stage of the Mutua Madrid Open.

In the semi-finals, he will face Ćorić, whom he has never met. The Spaniard left Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, German Alexander Zverev and Russian Karen Khachanov on the road. With eight consecutive victories on clay (five in Barcelona and three in Madrid), a duel awaits him against the 26-year-old from Zagreb, the 20th in the world.

The Balkan native, with only three trophies in his career, the last and brightest last year at the Cincinnati Masters 1,000, and five more finals, such as the Shanghai Masters 1,000 in 2018, signs his best record so far in 2023.

Until Caja Mágica, where he defeated the Frenchman Hugo Gaston, the Polish Hubert Hurkacz and the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich, he did not pass the quarterfinals like those in Dubai or Montpellier.

He is playing the tournament in Madrid for the sixth time. Until this season, the quarterfinal he played in 2017 and which he lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem was his most prominent role. Now he is on the threshold of the final, and his opponent is Alcaraz.