First week of Wimbledon filled with five-setters as Alcaraz overcomes Tiafoe

It has been a five-set frenzy in week one at Wimbledon.

That is music to the ears of Carlos Alcaraz.

After all, Alcaraz is unquestionably the five-set king in the early stages of his career. The 21-year-old is now 12-1 lifetime in fifth sets after defeating Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the third round on Friday. Tiafoe threw absolutely everything at Alcaraz, but the Spaniard once again came up clutch in the most important moments to advance after three hours and 50 minutes.

Alcaraz’s lone five-set loss has come in round three of the 2022 Australian Open at the hands of Matteo Berrettini. The current world No. 3 won the recent French Open final in five over Alexander Zverev and beat Novak Djokovic in five last summer in the Wimbledon final. On his way his first slam title at the 2022 U.S. Open, Alcaraz battled through five-set instant classics against Jannik Sinner in the quarters and Tiafoe in the semis.

“In the fifth set I think I increase my tennis, my level,” Alcaraz said during his Friday press conference at the All-England Club. “I feel great physically and that helps a lot to play more calmly than the opponent. I feel much better than the opponent physically and mentally. I know that the other guy has to play at a really high level of tennis and intensity in the fifth set if he wants to beat me. That helps me a lot to deal much better with those difficult situations in the fifth set.

“I’m playing with the stats that I just lost one match in the fifth set. That’s an advantage for me. That’s why I am feeling really, really [good] physically and in my head I’m thinking that I’m good in the [fifth] and have the belief that I am going to win–I’m going to play my best tennis. In every match that I’ve played five sets, I played really close (to) or my best tennis. I realized that I’m good at it and I believe that I’m going to win.”

That kind of mentality would serve everyone on tour quite well, especially at this particular Wimbledon tournament because it feel like every man in the field has played at least one. Okay, maybe not every man. But we are on a record five-set pace. Already there have already been 30 matches decided in a fifth set, four off from the Wimbledon record and five away from the overall single-slam record. There have also been nine comebacks from two sets down.

On Wednesday alone there were eight matches completed in a fifth set. I was in attendance for at least parts of all eight fifth sets–we’ll call it an unofficial single-day personal record.

And we aren’t even through the third round! Heck, we’re not even halfway through the third round!

With rain having suspended play late on Friday afternoon, Ugo Humbert vs. Brandon Nakashima is potentially one tiebreaker from going to a fifth. Fabio Fognini vs. Roberto Bautista Agut is potentially one game from going to a fifth. Daniil Medvedev vs. Jan-Lennard Struff is potentially one set away from going to a fifth.

All of this has made for a wildly fun first week in London, because who doesn’t love a five-setter?!?!

Well, anyone who plays one against Carlos Alcaraz!

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.