Carlos
Alcaraz and
Holger Rune played doubles together at the prestigious tennis
junior event Les Petits As when they were 13 years old.
Both
players are the new rising stars on the ATP tour. With Alcaraz as the world No.
1 and Rune as the world No. 6, these 20-year-old players are starting a rivalry
that will dominate the tour in the coming years.
Alcaraz and
Rune will face each other tomorrow on the Center Court at the All England Club
in the quarterfinals of
Wimbledon. This will be their first meeting in a Grand
Slam and also their first on grass. So far, their head-to-head record is tied
at 1-1, with Alcaraz winning at the Next Gen ATP Finals (a trophy that eventually
went to Alcaraz) and Rune triumphing at the Paris Masters 1000, where Alcaraz
retired when the score was 6-3, 6-6 in favor of Rune, who went on to become the
champion of the tournament.
The
20-year-old tennis players have known each other since their junior days, as
they always competed in the same tournaments and age category, being born just
a week apart. A video has been released showing Alcaraz and Rune playing
doubles together at the prestigious tennis junior event Les Petits As when they
were only 13 years old, displaying the skills that have now put them in the
spotlight of the tennis world.
Alcaraz is
playing his first quarterfinal at Wimbledon, although there are some doubts
about the level he has shown, still far from his performance on other courts.
Alcaraz has already defeated two tough opponents in the third and fourth
rounds, including the 25th seed Nicolas Jarry and former Wimbledon finalist
Matteo Berrettini.
On the
other hand, Rune managed to come back from a seemingly lost match against the
31st seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, winning in the final 10-point tie-break
of the fifth set. In the round of 16, he defeated the always challenging Grigor
Dimitrov in four sets.