Carlos Alcaraz is 'the man to beat' at US Open, says Mats Wilander – 'Impossible to hit ball past him'
Published 29/08/2025 at 22:34 GMT+1
Carlos Alcaraz has impressed at the US Open with three straight-set victories to reach the fourth round. Mats Wilander has given his view on Alcaraz's performances and his next opponent in New York, Arthur Rinderknech. World No. 2 Alcaraz, who won the US Open in 2022, beat Luciano Darderi in the third round and afterwards played down concerns over a knee issue.
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Mats Wilander says Carlos Alcaraz looks "unbelievably focused" at the US Open and appears the "man to beat" so far.
World No. 2 Alcaraz has not always looked at his best in the early rounds of Grand Slams and has occasionally made things difficult for himself - but so far in New York he has really impressed.
He is yet to drop a set through three matches and comfortably dispatched Luciano Darderi to advance to the last 16.
"Alcaraz is playing extremely well," said TNT Sports expert Wilander.
"He’s unbelievably focused, the movement is just so good it seems impossible to hit the ball past him.
"His forehand, he said himself is not perfect, to me it looks pretty perfect, and he is serving well.
"Early in the tournament, for once, he looks like the man to beat."
Alcaraz, who played down concerns over a knee issue that required treatment during the match, is aiming to win the US Open for the second time in his career.
He next comes up against Arthur Rinderknech, who has lost all three previous meetings against the Spaniard.
On the match-up, Wilander said: "Rinderknech has a big serve and big game and he can rush Alcaraz, maybe take the second serve return and come to the net, maybe hit the ball really hard down the middle and come to the net, do something that will surprise Alcaraz. I think he has a chance to at least win a set."
Alcaraz 'locked in' for title bid
Alcaraz suffered one of the biggest upsets of his career twelve months ago at the US Open when he was beaten in the second round by Botic van de Zandschulp.
He says that defeat has been "motivation" on his return to the Big Apple.
"I'm just trying not to do the same things as last year. Trying to improve and do the things much better. Every time that I step on the court, I'm just locked in from the first point until the last one.
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"I'm taking last year as motivation coming into this year, be more hungry, ambitious to do great things here.
"This is a place that I love playing. The energy is crazy, so I'm just trying to feel the love and the energy from the people much more and playing as much matches as I can, that motivates me."
On facing Rinderknech, Alcaraz said: "He's really difficult to play against, really aggressive, big serve, trying to go to the net.
"So it's going to be really difficult, but as I said, I'm just trying to be focused on myself, that I'm playing great tennis, and I'm feeling really comfortable physically, mentally, and just feeling the ball really well.
"I will try to think just about my goals, about myself, and let's see, but it's going to be a really interesting one."
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner will look to join Alcaraz in the fourth round when he faces Denis Shapovalov on Saturday.
Like Alcaraz, Sinner is yet to drop a set at the final Grand Slam of the tennis year.
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