The tennis world has seen the birth of a new star, someone who, if he stays injury-free, can dominate the game for the next dozen years at least. Carlos Alcaraz had already shown what he could do by winning the US Open title last September. He did well at the French Open too before he started cramping against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals which raised questions about his fitness levels for the majors. He answered these in style as he came back from a drubbing in the first set in the Wimbledon final against Djokovic to win the title in five sets in over four hours of bruising, punishing tennis. In the semifinals, he had polished off Daniil Medvedev in three sets where the Russian just wasn’t able to read his serve and was constantly wrong-footed by the Spaniard. What was seen in this tournament was shot-making, which is not so often seen on grass courts.
Alcaraz used the drop shot to perfection, catching even the seasoned Djokovic on the wrong foot, and then when the defending champion did reach one drop shot near the net, Alcaraz responded with one of the best lobs ever that made the champ shake his head in admiration and frustration too. When Sachin Tendulkar came on the scene, the cricketing world marvelled at the range of shots he had and the multiple choices he had for even the best of deliveries. Alcaraz is like that. He seems to have more than one option to play a shot and then play it either with fierce ferocity or delicate deceptivity. He has a terrific serve too, and like Tendulkar, he has all the shots in the book. His speed is just incredible, and as much as Djokovic tried to make him run around the court, the ball kept coming back to him from the other side of the net. If he stays free of injury, he can go on to win multiple majors over the next 10 to 15 years.
There was another youngster who also grabbed the headlines with a century on his debut for India. Yashaswi Jaiswal. For some time now, the Mumbai maidan grapevine has been talking about this youngster and how run-hungry this kid was. There were similar whispers about Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan. Shaw has already played for India and got a century on debut against the same West Indies, but since then he has struggled to hold his place in the team. What I remember about that debut game in Rajkot is that the first bouncer that was bowled was in the ninth over. I teased Ian Bishop, who was doing commentary, “Bishop, the first bouncer in the 9th over? Is this the West Indies or some other team?” Bishop just looked sadly at me and said, “I wish I could tell you.” I don’t know if Jaiswal got to face any bouncers or not, but the fact that he went on to get 171 does give hope that he could be a long-term prospect. The win within three days does give one an idea of the strength and quality of the West Indies team. Earlier in the month, they failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup to be held in India in October, and so for the first time in so many years, the men from the Caribbean won’t be seen in the ODI World Cup.
In a column last year, I did write about the West Indian attitude towards life and suggested that rather than giving the players central contracts with a guaranteed income for the year, the better route would be to increase the Test match fees considerably and pay them per Test match only. This way, there’s a chance that they will apply themselves a bit more, knowing that to be picked for the next Test match, they have to perform in the current one. The central contracts have not made their star players available for the West Indies, as they still prefer the more lucrative T20 leagues that are coming up all over the world. So why have central contracts at all? Instead, just increase the match fees and see if that leads to improved performance.
This is being written from Dallas, America, where the inaugural Major League Cricket has begun. The pitches so far have been excellent and have given the quicker bowlers the incentive to bend their backs and get the ball to climb awkwardly for the batters. The spinners can get the ball to turn a bit, and the true bounce of the pitch means the batters can play through the line too.
These are early days, of course, but the signs look encouraging, and it won’t be a surprise that the league will take off once the different franchises have their stadia with their own pitches.
Cricket has entered America, but whether it will find a home, we shall soon get to see.
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