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It was a rainy, dank day in Flushing Meadows, with the dreary white roof closed on Arthur Ashe Stadium. But the Spanish sunshine broke through the gloom and lifted 19-year-old speedster Carlos Alcaraz to a U.S. Open title, the first major crown of his young career.
Despite playing five-set marathons in his three previous bouts, Alcaraz had enough left to repel the consistency of Norway’s Casper Ruud and become the youngest men’s Open winner since 1990, when Pete Sampras also won it all at 19.
This was not one of Alcaraz’s five-set marathons, but it was still exhausting — a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 triumph before a sellout crowd of 23,859.
After a service winner ended it, Alcaraz fell onto his back, then his stomach, and soon hopped teary-eyed into the stands to hug the those seated in his player’s box.
“It’s something I dreamt of as a kid, to be No. 1 in the world and champion of a Grand Slam,’’ said Alcaraz, who becomes the youngest top-ranked player since the rankings began in the 1970s.
“It’s not time to be tired in the final round of a Grand Slam,’’ Alcaraz added, noting his string of endless matches. ‘You have to give everything you have inside.”
Alcaraz was presented the trophy by John McEnroe and could be a a top favorite at the Australian Open in January — even if Novak Djokovic plays. But he won’t have the support he had here.
“It means a lot to me to have a lot of people supporting me here in New York,’’ said Alcaraz, who burst onto the scene with a 2021 quarterfinal berth. “What I lived last year was incredible, but this year was unscriptable.’’
His coach, former tour star Juan Carlos Ferrero, thinks he was destined to win his first major by 20.
“From the moment I started with him, I saw things that were different from other guys his age,’’ Ferrero said. “You saw it against [Marin] Cilic, [Jannik] Sinner, [Frances] Tiafoe. He’s a great competitor and never gave up. It’s a surprise to everyone but me. I was pretty sure, if it wasn’t this year, he would [win] the next one.”
The turning point came late in a 73-minute third set, when Alcaraz fought off two set points to force a tiebreaker. Had Ruud converted, Alcaraz would’ve trailed two sets to one and possibly run out of gas.
No, Ruud couldn’t escape from Alcaraz.
“It was very important to win that third set because Carlos, I think, was a little tired in the fourth,’’ Ferrero said.
The pivotal rally came after he shook off the set points and went up an advantage with both players getting to tough drop shots. Alcaraz lobbed Ruud, who tracked it down with a between-the-legs return. It wasn’t angled well enough, and Alcaraz tapped in a volley winner. He won 77 percent of his net points, coming in 40 times
The crowd rose out of its seats to applaud the sheer grit and hustle, and Alcaraz waved encouragement for the throng to get louder.
“When it’s close, he pulls out great shots,’’ said the fifth-seeded Ruud, the first Norwegian to make the Open final and who will move up to No. 2. “He’s shown incredible fighting spirit.”
At 6-6, before the tiebreaker, the fans broke into a sing-song of “Ole, Ole, Ole.’’ Alcaraz pummeled Ruud in a 7-1 tiebreaker as Ruud looked worn down from blowing the set points.
This Open could be the first of many majors for Alcaraz, perhaps as much as the 14 that “Pistol Pete” notched. “The Next Nadal’’ blends speed, power, grit and superb tactics. His point construction is well beyond his years, seemingly able to anticipate when to charge the net amid a rally. Arguably, he already covers the court better than Djokovic. He’s got the whole package — still two years before he can legally drink in Queens.
“He’s an amazing kid,’’ Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, told The Post exiting the arena. “He was fighting for two weeks. The tennis world is in good hands when Novak, Rafa [Nadal] and Roger [Federer] get out.’’
Alcaraz entered the finals having played two more hours of tennis than Ruud during the fortnight, and he looked lethargic in a 2-6 second-set defeat. But his will prevailed — just like it did in his three previous five-set thrillers, all ending later than midnight.
Perhaps a new day is dawning in men’s tennis. Twenty of the last 23 majors had been won either by Federer, Djokovic and Nadal.
Federer and Djokovic couldn’t play the Open for various reasons, and Nadal was bounced early. The old-timers will be back later this month, playing for Europe in the Laver Cup in England, but that won’t have the voltage of the most exciting tennis tournament on the planet.
Alcaraz routinely won the first set with an early break but lost zip — and his drop shot — in the second set.
Ruud, only 23, won it handily at 6-2, posting two breaks, showing his own athleticism. At 5-2, Alcaraz was erratic, throwing in two double faults, a poorly conceived drop shot, an unforced error on a backhand. Ruud closed out the set with an overhead smash to tie it at 1-1.
The fans backed Ruud, too, in the set, roaring after a handful of scintillating points that saw Ruud showcase his speed in getting to a couple of Alcaraz’s trademark droppers.
The USTA announced the U.S. Open set an all-time attendance record for a two-week event — 776,120. Including grounds passes, 27,973 were in the facility Sunday.
A lot of the international tourists were back — and Spanish fans were there to celebrate the milestone.
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