Alcaraz v Londero: Things we learned

What a difference a year makes.

When a promising teenager named Carlos Alcaraz made his main draw debut here last year, he was a qualifier ranked just barely inside the top 100. The biggest court that he played on was Simonne-Mathieu, and he acquitted himself well with a respectable run to the third round.

Now, it all just sounds so quaint. The 19-year-old has returned to the French capital as the No.6 seed and one of the overwhelming tournament favourites — and he showed why in his 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 victory over lucky loser Juan Ignacio Londero on Court Philippe-Chatrier. 

Here’s what we learned from Alcaraz’s first-round victory.

Nerves? Nah.

Despite arriving at Roland-Garros on the back of a huge clay-court season, winning in Barcelona and claiming his second Masters 1000 title in Madrid; one of the biggest questions surrounding the teenager was how he’d handle the pressure of being in the spotlight.

We’ve seen countless top players fold early or tighten up as the nerves set in, and that could have very well been the case on Sunday for Alcaraz, who was playing in his first match since the Madrid final after skipping Rome to rest. A bit of rust would have been understandable, especially against the battle-tested Londero, who won two matches in qualifying before bowing out to Borna Gojo.

Despite a scratchy start, the Spaniard didn’t panic or lose patience. He simply applied his game, relying on his strong first serve to jump-start points, using his weight of shot to keep 28-year-old Londero on the move and deep in the court, and peppering the points with smart drop shots and passing shots.

Capitalising in the capital

But it’s not just about how Alcaraz handled the big moments, like break points saved or set points converted. Rather, it’s the smaller moments that often reveal a player’s resilience and maturity.

Take the tightly-contested opening set, where Alcaraz was serving at 3-3 and found himself really tested by the Argentine for the first time. Trailing 15-30, Alcaraz missed two first serves. Any other player would have been broken promptly, but the No.6 seed’s massive second serves soon neutralised the danger.

And what about when six break points came and went, deep in the third set, with Londero playing with nothing to lose at 3-0? The Argentine dug deep to counter Alcaraz’s highlight-reel worthy forehands to keep himself from going down a double break, and the frustration was starting to creep in on the Spaniard’s face. But Alcaraz, instead of rushing or changing tactics, simply did what he did all match long: kept himself in the game and waited for the error from Londero.

Getting better with age, or rather, with games

While the wind seemed to leave Londero’s sails in the second and third sets, Alcaraz was in full flight as he tore through 10 games in a row from 6-4, 2-2. The victory extended his clay-court winning streak to 11 matches in a row, improving to 29-3 on the season.

According to Match Stats by Infosys, his 22 winners far outpaced Londero’s 10 across three sets, while he kept his unforced error count relatively tidy at 25 compared to the Argentine’s 37.

But his standout performance came from his powerful serve, where he won 83% (34/41) of points behind his first serve and 62% (16/26) from his second serve. Most importantly, he didn’t face a single break point in the match, and he converted on six of his own 12 break chances.

Next up, an all-Spanish affair with history

Just over the horizon, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both loom in Alcaraz’s section of the draw.

He scored wins over both during his historic run to the Madrid title, but players know that facing any of the ‘Big Three’ in a best-of-five format is a whole different beast. But that’s the semi-finals, and there is a lot of ground to cover before then: Alcaraz could meet No. 27 seed Sebastian Korda in the third round, should the American get past John Millman.

The immediate challenge will be an all-Spanish second-round clash against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who downed Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) earlier in the day.

The 19-year-old owns a 2-0 head-to-head lead against Ramos-Vinolas, and both of those victories have marked major milestones for Alcaraz. His first, in 2020 Rio de Janeiro, was also Alcaraz’s first ever ATP main draw win, while the second came in Umag in 2021, where he lifted his first tour-level trophy.