Carlos Alcaraz secured a spot in the Wimbledon semi-finals, after that he found himself embroiled in a spying controversy. The 18-year-old rising star defeated Holger Rune in a straight-set victory to reach this stage of the tournament. However, Alcaraz had to address allegations that his father, who is a regular member of his entourage, recorded Novak Djokovic’s training sessions at Wimbledon’s Aorangi Park.
The fact that Carlos Alcaraz and Djokovic are seeds means that they might compete against one another in the Wimbledon championship match.
“Oh, probably it is true. My father is a huge fan of tennis. He doesn’t only watch my matches,” said Alcaraz.
“I think he gets into the club at 11am, gets out at 10pm, watching matches, watching practice from everyone.
“Being able to watch Djokovic in real life, yeah, probably it is true he’s filmed the sessions.”
Pressed on whether having the video footage would give him a competitive advantage, Alcaraz said: “I don’t think so.
“I mean, I have a lot of videos from Djokovic on every platform. I think it’s not an advantage for me.”
Alcaraz did not need any inside information to beat Rune 7-6 (3) 6-4 6-4.
Rune
The Spaniard and sixth seed Rune grew up playing against each other and teamed up for a doubles tournament when they were 14. On Wednesday they became the first men under 21 to face each other in a Wimbledon quarter-final in the open era. Just six days separate the pair – Rune being the older – and as they headed into a first-set tie-break there was virtually nothing to choose between them either.
Alcaraz had hit 12 winners to Rune’s 13, both had made 12 unforced errors and both had won a total of 38 points. Both had also double-faulted once, but Rune picked the wrong time to add to that particular tally to hand Alcaraz the advantage in the tie-break, which he went on to win with a stunning backhand return.
