The Canadian Open has been exceptional so far. In one of the biggest upsets, American tennis player Tommy Paul knocked the Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament. There was a moment of unexpected drama when frustrations boiled over for Alcaraz during the quarterfinal. Nick Kyrgios came to his defense and stirred a new controversy with his statements.
In a rare display of anger, Alcaraz smashed his racket when Tommy broke his serve in the opening set. It was unexpected of Carlos and it stunned the crowd into silence.
Players who smash their rackets on the court normally receive a code violation. In this case, however, Carlos was lucky he was not given a violation.
No code violations for boy wonder. 🤔pic.twitter.com/aqZqgW6B25
— Pavvy G (@pavyg) August 12, 2023
This is unusual in itself as players like Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were not spared from this either. Fans have raised the issue of bias displayed in this case.
Australian player Nick Kyrgios also shared his two pence on this, claiming, “Who the fu*k cares.” Kyrgios has also been fined for smashing his tennis racket previously.
Who the fu*k cares…. The dude is gonna be carrying the tennis load for the next decade.. good on him for showing he is human. Frustrated not playing up to standards. Also let’s start giving codes to umpires 🥔 https://t.co/VFw8qvXViW
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 12, 2023
Other fans chipped in with their takes too. A user commented that only the double standards were being highlighted in this case.
No. Now I disagree with you, Nick. We do care, because if any other player would’ve done the same, specially Djokovic, that would’ve been penalized. We are pointing the double standard here. That’s all. 🤷🏻♂️
— Julio Cesar Rodriguez (@jcrmtxus) August 12, 2023
Double standards or not, Carlos Alcaraz was not at his best yesterday and Tommy Paul capitalized on it. The American player finally ended Alcaraz’s 14-match winning streak.
What went wrong for Carlos Alcaraz?
The Canadian Open saw both Wimbledon champions getting eliminated in the same week. First went Marketa Vondrousova, followed by Alcaraz.
It was an exciting match. Tommy struck the ball very well and showed remarkable agility on the court. He was good on his feet and did not let Alcaraz breathe with his aggressive returns. Tommy was focused and even managed to break Alcaraz’s serve in the opening set which greatly annoyed the Spaniard.
However, Alcaraz did not make it easy for Paul. He came back hard in the second set, winning 10 successive points. At one point, Alcaraz hit a winner with a tweener and too much applause from the crowd.
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Tommy broke Alcaraz’s serve again in the final set. He was very precise and won 76 percent of points on his serve in the deciding set. He won the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
With this win, Paul became the first American player to defeat the world number one since 2017. The last man who achieved this was John Isner against Rafael Nadal in the Laver Cup.
This massive victory sent Paul to the very first semifinal of an ATP Masters 1000 event. Tommy Paul will take confidence from this win, as he takes on Jannik Sinner next.