Alexander Blockx, Madrid Open semifinalist, is ready for a bigger tennis court in every sense

MADRID — Jannik Sinner issued a warning Wednesday evening for everyone swept up by Rafael Jódar, the 19-year-old Spanish rocket ship who had just put him through two hours of stress at the Madrid Open.

“Especially this tournament here, very young players are coming through,” he said. “We cannot forget also about Blockx, for example. He’s a bit under the radar, but he is an incredible player. Everyone is improving, so you need always to be in the present moment.”

Less than 24 hours later, Blockx, first name Alexander, overpowered Casper Ruud, the defending champion and French Open finalist, 6-3, 6-4, and it wasn’t really that close.

Blockx, a 6-foot-4 inch Belgian from Antwerp, is just 21. It’s hard to imagine many people had the world No. 69 making the semifinals on their draw ahead of the tournament. Blockx sure didn’t.

“I never had too much confidence on clay in the last couple of years, but I think I cannot say that anymore with the results I’m doing,” Blockx said during an interview Thursday following his win.

He had some good results on the ATP Challenger Tour earlier this year, winning two events and making the semis of another. All were on hard courts.

He made the round of 16 at the Monte Carlo Masters, but even that didn’t convince him that he had much of a clay-court future. Now that he is in the semifinals of Madrid, he might reconsider. He still thinks the uniquely quick conditions in Madrid are helping him, though he knows no one wants to hear it at this point.

“I cannot say I’m not playing well on clay,” he said. “I would be lying.”

In Spain, he started off by beating lucky loser Cristian Garín, then knocked off four consecutive seeded players: Brandon Nakashima (28), Félix Auger-Aliassime (3), Francisco Cerúndolo (16) and Ruud (2). Against Ruud, the thing that might give Blockx some staying power at the top level was most visible: he is built for big stages, and not only in the metaphorical sense.

On the expanses of Manolo Santana Stadium, Blockx embraced the free space behind the baseline and outside the sidelines that he doesn’t get on more cramped field courts, or even the biggest ones on the ATP Challenger Tour. He hit 53 percent of his groundstrokes from more than 2 meters behind the baseline. His average the past 52 weeks is 33 percent. Sometimes he hoiked lobs up into the air. Sometimes he smacked passing shots. Both made Ruud uncomfortable.

His break in the second set owed plenty to a down-the-line backhand passing shot from deep in the backcourt that nearly resembled a hard lob.

“I really couldn’t find a big weakness or hole in his game,” Ruud said.

Three years ago, Blockx and Learner Tien played a marathon match on another very big court, Rod Laver Arena, in the Australian Open boys’ singles final. Blockx won in a third-set tiebreak, 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(9).

Tien got some revenge last December in the championship match of the Next Gen ATP Finals, the tournament for the best players under 21. It was definitely a different sort of match than they played in Melbourne. There were a lot of moonballs that day in Australia three years ago, especially from Blockx. Not so this year, especially against Ruud.

Blockx said that his increased aggressiveness came from several factors: He grew several inches, added muscle, and spent hours improving his shoulder mobility to add more pace to his serve and forehand. All that allowed him to stop being just the defensive junior player, who ran around the court and made a lot of balls.

On the eve of the Madrid Open came one of the biggest changes yet. Blockx confirmed to BB Tennis Thursday that he is no longer working with coach Philippe Cassiers. They started their partnership when Blockx was 4.

That defensive dexterity still made appearances Thursday. Blockx showed off his speed when he chased down a drop shot and feathered one back, landing it inches from the net, to break Ruud early in the first set. But it was the bigger court that fully allowed him to showcase his speed.

“To be such a tall and big guy physically, I was a bit surprised; he stands quite far back in the court,” Ruud said. “Kind of untypical for someone who hits such a big serve.”

Blockx said the stadium court made him feel like a kid on a very big playground, especially after playing plenty of matches on cramped field courts, where drifting too far back and defending is not an option. On Thursday it was, and the way he’s been feeling the ball, he could blast away, too.

When he noticed early on that Ruud was missing shots he usually makes, he tried to make him rally. When Ruud began to find his rhythm, Blockx stepped up the aggression.

“The idea was to be as unpredictable as possible,” he said. “I’m pretty all around, so I can do both. Once I had the chance to go for my shot, I went for it.”

It all worked. Blockx won 58 percent of the baseline points. He won 71 percent of his points at the net. He averaged 130 mph on his first serve and topped out at 137 mph.

“My attack game is much better than before,” he said. “It still needs a lot of improvement, but I think we’re going the right way now.”

Sinner, the world No. 1, thinks so, too. Alexander Zverev, the world No. 3, is next in line.

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