SO SAD: Carlos Alcaraz has been suspended today after losing everything he work for 2 years because of…

He’s not wrong, said Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph. It’s not just the quality of Alcaraz’s tennis, however, that makes him stand apart. In its combination of power, agility and variety, his game also offers something unprecedented. He can “pull winners out of thin air in any number of ways, whether by larruping 100mph forehands or feathering the daintiest of drop shots”. His powers of retrieval regularly induce gasps – as with the single-handed backhand pass he conjured in the penultimate game on Sunday, “all while scooting laterally across the court so swiftly that he could have been on wheels”.

And the package is completed by a likeable and ebullient personality, which is confident without being cocky. No wonder there’s a growing feeling that Alcaraz is “becoming the saviour of tennis” – the man who will keep the sport fresh and exciting as the era of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic passes.

Another rare attribute possessed by Alcaraz is an ability to win when not playing his best, said Matthew Lambert in the Daily Mail. His form on Sunday was patchy, as it had been in his fiveset semi-final victory over Jannik Sinner. He had “two shocking spells”, going from 2-1 to 2-6 in the second set and 5-2 to 5-7 in the third. But when he most needed to, he found his game: he played his best tennis in the final two sets. It’s telling that of the 12 five-set matches he has played, he has won 11.

John McEnroe and Boris Becker have both said that he’s a “better player at this age than Federer, Nadal or Djokovic were” – and he’s still clearly some way off his peak. One suspects that once he reaches it, “he will be close to unstoppable”.