PARIS– Carlos Alcaraz came one win away from becoming the youngest man to win an individual Olympic tennis gold medal when he defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-1 in the Paris Games semi-finals on Friday.
Alcaraz is a 21-year-old Spaniard who already has four Grand Slam titles – including in June at Roland Garrosthe clay court used for tennis at the 2024 Games – and is about a month younger than Vincent Richards of the US was when he won gold in Paris in 1924.
With dozens of spectators waving red and yellow Spanish flags at the Court Philippe Chatrier or shouting “Come on, Carlos!” On a cloudy afternoon – and with a soundtrack provided during breaks in the action by a brass band in the stands – Alcaraz were dominant and never faced a break point.
Auger-Aliassime is a 23-year-old Canadian whose best major tournament performance was a semi-final at the 2021 US Open. Auger-Aliassime reached that round when Alcaraz, just 18 at the time, stopped playing in the second set of quarter-finals because of a muscle injury in his leg.
The Alcaraz on display during his Olympic debut is a much more finished product, someone who won 12 consecutive matches at Roland Garros and also won a second consecutive Wimbledon title last month.
Alcaraz defeated 24-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic in both finals at the All England Club, and there could be a rematch for the men’s gold on Sunday. That’s because Djokovic, a 37-year-old Serbian, was scheduled to face Lorenzo Musetti, from Italy, in Friday’s second Olympic semifinal.
The women’s singles final is Saturday, with Zheng Qinwen of China playing against Donna Vekic of Croatia. Iga Swiatek of Poland and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova were scheduled to meet on Friday for the bronze medal.
It was unclear how fit Djokovic would be for that match because he felt what he described as “sharp pain” in his surgically repaired right knee by overcoming Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals on Thursday night. Musetti eliminated Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz never worried in the semi-final, using his full suite of talents – his speed, his groundstrokes, his touch on the net and so on – to control things against Auger-Aliassime.
“It’s no secret that right now,” said Tommy Paul, the American who lost to the Spaniard in the quarterfinals, “Alcaraz is kind of the gold standard.”
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