After consoling his opponent and embracing his team at the end of another successful week on the tour, Carlos Alcaraz had just one thought on his mind. He immediately sought out a pair of scissors to finally remove the extensive bandage wrapped tightly around his left ankle.
Having started his week in Tokyo by rolling his ankle and being unsure about whether he would continue, Alcaraz, the ATP No 1, ended it with his eighth title of the season as he overcame a spirited fight from a physically hampered Taylor Fritz to triumph at the Japan Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win.
Throughout the first few years of his career, even as he continued to win the biggest titles at a faster rate than almost any other male player in history, Alcarazâ€s relative inconsistency had been a dominant narrative surrounding his career. He has addressed those criticisms by putting together one of the greatest seasons of the past decade, one that has re-established him as the best player in the world.
Alcaraz has now reached nine consecutive finals, winning seven titles across all three surfaces and establishing a 66-6 (92%) record at individual events this year. At just 22 years old, the five-time grand slam champion and world No 1 has now won 24 ATP titles.
The past week has been particularly challenging. Four games into his first-round match against Sebastian Baez, Alcaraz rolled his left ankle. As he tried to play through pain and find a way through that match, Alcaraz was unsure whether he would be able to continue. Although Alcaraz played the rest of the tournament with his ankle heavily taped, he moved with increasing freedom in each match.
During his victory speech, Alcaraz thanked his physio Juanjo Moreno for his work during the week: “Starting the week not really good, with the ankle, and the way that I came back from that playing such a great tournament, great matches, Iâ€m just really happy about it,†he said.
Fritz, the No 4 and second seed, entered this final with ample reason to believe he could win after convincingly beating the Spaniard for the first time last week in the Laver Cup, where the American played some of the best tennis of his career and led Team World to victory. With an individual title on the line, however, Alcaraz was clearly performing at a much higher level from the beginning.
Although Fritz opened the match using his destructive first serve well, playing confident attacking tennis and working through his early service games, Alcaraz gradually took control of the baseline exchanges. He dominated with his forehand, currently the biggest weapon on the tour, he exposed the Americanâ€s average movement with his drop shots and he absorbed Fritzâ€s first strike with his own spectacular movement.
Carlos Alcaraz returns a shot against Taylor Fritz during the Japan Open final. Photograph: Rodrigo Reyes Marin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
After conceding his first service game right at the end of the first set, Fritz called for the trainer and he received a medical timeout for his left thigh. He was clearly struggling with his movement throughout the second set and he was unable to push off his left leg when dragged out into the corners. Even at full health, defeating Alcaraz in his current form is a monumental challenge. Here it was simply too much.
Still, Fritz bravely continued to fight and, not for the first time in his career, Alcaraz began to lose his focus against his hampered opponent. From 5-1 in the second set, Alcaraz instead found himself desperately trying to hold on at 5-4, 15-30. He demonstrated his confidence in the final moments by regaining his composure precisely when he needed it, striking three consecutive drop shot winners from 15-30 down to close out yet another win.
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