Alcaraz, a Spanish all-around fighter who is competing in ATP 500 Rotterdam for the first time in his career, aims to adjust his competitive form after losing to Serbian champion Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, and prepare for the upcoming "Sunshine Doubles" in North America. Unexpectedly, after the Rotterdam draw was announced, it was a big surprise, and I couldn't help but sweat for Alcaraz.

According to the draw, Alcaraz faced his nemesis, Dutch elder Van der Shanschup, in the first round. This person unexpectedly eliminated 2022 US Open champion Alcaraz in straight sets at the US Open last year, and even made the Spanish team suffer in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup on Spanish soil and missed the semi-finals (defeated Spanish god Nadal in singles and Alcaraz in doubles). Such a hard bone, of course, is enough to make Alcaraz hard.

In the second round, Alcaraz will face Canada's cool black Aliassime, who reached the semifinals of the 2021 US Open, becoming the first post-00 player to break into the semifinals of a Grand Slam, and was once ranked sixth in the world, making him a veritable leader of post-00 players. Later, due to frequent injuries, Aliassime's form declined, and the world ranking fell to outside the 20th. In the 2024 season, Aliassime's form has recovered significantly, and he has won two ATP 250 championships in a row.

In the subsequent quarter-finals, Alcaraz will face Danish talent Rune. This person broke into the quarterfinals of the 2022 French Open, and even defeated four top 10 players in the world in a row at the 2022 Paris Masters, winning the championship in one fell swoop, becoming the fourth outstanding post-00 player after Aliassime, Sinner, and Alcaraz, and the world ranking has always been in the top 10. Since the 2023 season, Rune has encountered a bottleneck, his competitive state is not stable enough, his performance has not advanced but retreated, and he has gradually fallen out of the top ten immortal classes in the world. But with Rune's strength and drive, no matter who encounters him in the game, how can he be underestimated?

In the final semi-finals and finals, Alcaraz is waiting for Alcaraz in the draw table, whether it is the Russian golden monkey Rublev or the Polish master Hurkacz, the Australian hare De Minar or the Russian Tsar Dmitry Medvedev.

Such an ATP 500 tournament draw is really hard enough for Alcaraz, although it cannot be compared with the Grand Slam and Masters draws, after all, the top four leaders in the world, in addition to Alcaraz himself, the other three (Italy's new king Sinner, German tank Zverev Jr., American daddy Fritz) are not in the draw table. It will not be so easy for Alcaraz to win the ATP 500 Rotterdam for the first time.

However, a draw is a draw, and the game process is another matter entirely. Alcaraz fought hard in the first round in three sets to achieve a sweet revenge against Dutch elder Van der Shanchop, untying the knot and boosting his confidence. In the early hours of this morning, Alcaraz easily defeated the Italian single-lens reflex player and doubles star Vavasori who replaced Canada's cool black Aliassime with a score of 6:2, 6:1 in the second round.

At the same time, other potential competitors have dropped the chain, which is not a big surprise. First of all, the Canadian cool black Aliassime won two consecutive 250 events this season, and in the first round against Vavasori, he won one set in each of the first two sets, and Aliassime announced his retirement due to injury. Russian Tsar Dmitry Medvedev was unexpectedly eliminated in the second round by a qualifier. In the last second-round match this morning, Danish genius Rune lost to Spain's post-95 player Martinez in two sets, and another big upset broke out.

In this way, at half past two in the morning tomorrow, in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 Rotterdam station, opposite Alcaraz across the net, it is the Spanish compatriot Martinez who knocked out the Danish genius Rune. Alcaraz's match has dropped dramatically, as Martinez is ranked 44th in the world.

In the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Alcaraz, who was still a rookie on the ATP Tour, met Martinez in the Challenger three times and defeated Martinez, who was ranked much higher than him, three times in a row. Alcaraz rose to prominence until he won the Masters and then the Grand Slam, becoming the youngest world No. 1 since the introduction of the computerized ranking system in ATP1971, and now holds four Grand Slam titles, five Masters titles, and is ranked in the top three in the world. Martinez, on the other hand, managed to break into the 50th mark of the world rankings by virtue of his lack of name, and has yet to challenge his compatriot Alcaraz on the tour.

Now Martinez's chance has come, in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Spanish Civil War is about to begin! Let's see how Alcaraz interprets a Spanish civil war, continues to train with competitions and adjusts his competitive state; And if Martinez can break out, or even show a good performance, and continue to fight Alcaraz in the Spanish Civil War?

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Colorful Bean Powder)