Carlos Alcaraz earns first Centre Court win, reaches third round at Wimbledon

WATCH: Carlos Alcaraz defeats Alexandre Muller at the 2023 Wimbledon second round

Midway through top seed Carlos Alcaraz’s second-round match against No. 84 Alexandre Muller, BBC’s John Inverdale interrupted his Wimbledon commentary to pose a question to former Top 20 player-turned-commentator Feliciano Lopez:

If no one knew these two players’ names or current rankings, if their accolades and career experiences were erased, what would be the qualities that separate these great shotmakers? After all, both players had been entertaining the Centre Court crowd with a closely contested battle for well over an hour: The first set was decided on just one break of serve, and in the second, Muller had pushed Alcaraz to a tiebreaker. Between them, they racked up 53 winners.

“There are a lot of good shot-makers, a lot of players that can hit the ball very well,” Lopez responded. “But there are very few great players.”

At 20 years old, Alcaraz may well be on his way to becoming a great player. He’s already the youngest world No. 1 in ATP Tour history, and the reigning US Open champion is looking for his second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Over the course of two hours and 33 minutes on Friday, Alcaraz showed his opponent that the gulf between them added up to more than 83 ranking points, as he edged past Muller 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

“It is really special to have my first win on Centre Court here in Wimbledon,” Alcaraz said afterward. “A really beautiful court. Of course, I really wanted to have my first one.

“I feel that I belong in that court. I feel like I'm ready to play more matches, to play more great matches on that court.”

Alcaraz arrived at SW19 following another big win in London—capturing his first grass-court title at Queen’s Club and returning to world No. 1 as a result—before easing past Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the second round. Somewhere along the way, he was announced as the new ambassador for Louis Vuitton, adding the Maison to a growing list of luxury sponsors.

By contrast, Muller also arrived in London after a title win, this one at the much smaller ATP Challenger event in Montechiarugolo, Italy, which was contested on clay. Muller had never played a grass-court main draw match in his career when he toppled countryman Arthur Rinderknech in four sets to book the biggest match of his career against Alcaraz.

The gap in their experience was immediately felt when the players took to Centre Court. In the first set, only one break made the difference—and it went the way of Alcaraz. The top seed didn’t give the Frenchman any chance to convert on his own three opportunities, or any others in the match for that matter, and instead kept his opponent under pressure throughout.

The second set was decided by equally narrow margins, with Muller going toe-to-toe with Alcaraz to send them into a tiebreak. But he never seemed to be putting Alcaraz in danger. In fact, the Spaniard hit 13 winners in the set and regularly dragged Muller up to the net, where he won 83% of points (24/29), and dominated the tiebreak 6-2.

By the third set, the difference between a great player and a good shotmaker was becoming ever more apparent, with Alcaraz’s variety, high baseline level and innate ability to find another gear at will all on display Friday. Another underrated, yet crucial quality of great players also proved true: Alcaraz played far from his best, committing 39 unforced errors overall, but still found a way to win comfortably.

“Today I'm going to say it wasn't my best match on grass, but I feel great, by the way,” Alcaraz said. “I always say that doesn't matter if you play a perfect match, you can be better.”

Down two sets and facing an uphill climb, Muller finally blinked to give Alcaraz a late lead at 5-3. In a sequence that could have summed up the match itself, Muller fought his way back to two break points. But each time, Alcaraz dialed up the pressure and forced an error out of his opponent, before eventually closing out the victory with a searing forehand winner.

Back in the third round, No. 1 seed Alcaraz will take on Chile’s No. 25 seed Nicolas Jarry on Saturday. The Spaniard’s best Wimbledon result is a fourth-round finish in 2022.