To Alcaraz, final today against De Miñaur in Vienna: “Put your chest out. Tell him who you are. Hit the ball harder, you can hit it more”

The ATP 500 tournament in Vienna will have a new champion today, Sunday. At 2:00 p.m. it will be a question between Carlos Alcaraz and the Australian with a Spanish mother Alex de Minaur. They left out two men in the list of winners, the German Alexander Zverev and the Russian Daniil Medvedev respectively. Jannik Sinner could not defend the throne now in dispute.

Alcaraz, 23 years old and world No. 3, has reached the last day in his second participation in a tournament that did not appear on his calendar, which came into play due to the cancellation of the exhibition event Six Kings Slam. I haven’t been to the Austrian capital since its semi-finals in 2021.

A penultimate round that surpassed the third consecutive opportunity Alex de Minaur, 27 years old and number 10, after having fallen to the Russian Karen Khachanov (2025) and the Italian Jannik Sinner (2026).

For the Murcian, the 27th ATP final, in search of a 27th title, which would be only the second in indoor and hard court, a section that he debuted in his record by conquering Rotterdam 2025. As is the case with De Miñaur, whose only crown came in that Dutch city, in this year’s edition. Overall, the Aussie had a 50% success rate in finals: 11 out of 22.

On the respective benches, two from Alicante. Samuel Lopez, from Villena, directing Carlos Alcaraz, both technically and also in the management of emotions. Choose the moments to attack, as happened in the ‘semi’ against Daniil Medvedev. Convinced that his pupil could break the Russian’s serve, he shouted at him from the box, “Put your chest out. Tell him who you are. Hit the ball harder, you can hit him harder.” And the Murcian responded with results.

On De Minaur’s side, Adolfo Gutierrezfrom whom he has not separated in his professional journey. He recently incorporated as an advisor, as in previous stages, the Australian Davis Cup captain, Lleyton Hewitt, which is not found in Vienna.

The face to face between the two is clear for Alcaraz: 6-0. In the last Australian Open, in January, the Spaniard won 7-5, 6-2 and 6-1. They meet again in a final in a covered pavilion and hard surface, as happened in Rotterdam 2025, with the El Palmar tennis player winning 6-4, 3-6 and 6-2.

Alcaraz can lend a hand to Rafa Jodar fulfilling his goal of winning the fourth tournament of the course, after the Australian Open, Doha and Tokyo. De Miñaur surpasses the Madrid native by one point in the Race to Turin, who would now give the ‘Aussie’ the place in the ATP Finals. The less he adds, the better for the Madrid native, who will have the last cartridge at the Masters 1000 ATP in Paris next week.