Carlos Alcaraz returns to world number one with title at Queen’s

Carlos Alcaraz of El Palmar, Spain has returned to number one in the world. On Sunday, he defeated Alex de Minaur of Sydney, Australia, 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the 2023 Queen’s Club Championship (also known as the Cinch Championships).

Alcaraz passes Novak Djokovic of Belgrade, Serbia, who moved to number one after he won the French Open. It is interesting that Djokovic is not number one even though he is the reigning French Open champion, Wimbledon champion, and Australian Open champion. One major reason why Djokovic is not first is because the 2022 Wimbledon was played as an exhibition tournament as zero ATP points were rewarded.

On Sunday, Alcaraz had seven aces compared to only one for de Minaur. Alcaraz only had two break point opportunities and capitalized on both of them, as he broke de Minaur in each set.

With Djokovic not playing at Queen’s, Alcaraz was seeded first in London. De Minaur was the only seeded player Alcaraz beat at Queen’s, as De Minaur was seeded seventh. One notable player Alcaraz did beat at Queen’s was three-time grand slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov, who entered Queen’s as a qualifier. Dimitrov of Bulgaria, made the final four of Wimbledon in 2014, the Australian Open in 2017 and the United States Open in 2019. At Queen’s this past week, Alcaraz beat Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Alcaraz has now won five tournaments in 2023 on three different surfaces. In fact his win at Queen’s, was Alcaraz’s first ATP career title on grass. Alcaraz previously won the 2023 Argentina Open (clay), Indian Wells (hard court), the 2023 Barcelona Open (clay), and the 2023 Madrid Open (clay).

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