Carlos Alcaraz, chasing his maiden semifinal at Melbourne Park, faced off against Alex de Minaur, who threw everything he had on court. But it wasn’t enough. The Spaniard’s power and precision pushed de Minaur into a corner. Tensions spiked when the umpire made a call against de Minaur that didn’t sit well with the crowd, but Alcaraz saved the day and stole some hearts.

On Tuesday, inside Rod Laver Arena, the drama peaked during the closing stages of the first set. Just as de Minaur stepped up to serve, the umpire hit him with a time violation for taking too long on his first serve.

The crowd erupted in disbelief, booing heavily as their home favorite stared at the chair in confusion, trying to make sense of the call. Even Alcaraz looked stunned, glancing toward the umpire to quickly clarify.

“I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t there,” Carlos Alcaraz said.

The exchange created a wave of uncertainty in the arena over whether the violation would be withdrawn, but it wasn’t. That left Alex under pressure, knowing another delay could cost him his first serve.

Moments later, he faulted on his first serve and lost the point after a drawn-out, tense rally. Alcaraz took advantage of the momentum to take control. He broke de Minaur’s serve to seal the first set 7-5. From there, the Spaniard hit top gear. He stormed through the next two sets 6-2, 6-1, wrapping up a straight-sets win and booking his spot in the semifinals against Alexander Zverev.

So far, Carlos hasn’t let anything stand in his way of claiming the Career Slam. The Spaniard is yet to drop a set in the tournament after breezing past Adam Walton, Yannick Hanfmann, Corentin Moutet, and Tommy Paul in the first four rounds.

Additionally, with this win over de Minaur, the 22-year-old has reached his 10th Grand Slam semifinal before turning 23. Joining the likes of legends Bjorn Borg, Rafael Nadal, and Boris Becker!

Still, while his on-court performance remained undetered, the Spaniard did face trouble with the umpire in his previous match.

Carlos Alcaraz gets called out by the umpire for health tracker

During his round four match against Paul, Alcaraz was told to remove a device hidden underneath a wrist sweatband. Just before play began, chair umpire Marija Cicak noticed something unusual tucked beneath his right wrist sweatband during warm-up. Turns out, the young Spaniard had a fitness-tracking Whoop band hidden there.

The quick exchange played out on live TV, but Alcaraz handled it with his trademark smile. He simply took off the device and got back to business. Then, in classic Alcaraz fashion, he let his tennis do the talking, sweeping Paul in straight sets to move confidently into the next round.

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“These are the tournament’s rules, the ATP’s, the ITF’s,” Alcaraz told reporters after the win. “You can’t play with it. It’s something that helps you take better care of yourself, to monitor your recovery, your training load… but, well, I haven’t been able to use it in matches. It’s fine. You take it off and keep going.”

The Whoop device, a sleek, screen-free tracker, collects data on heart rate, recovery, stress, and sleep. It works for any athlete keen on precision training. Interestingly, Carlos Alcaraz wasn’t the only one sporting the gadget. Both Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka were also told to remove theirs at Melbourne Park this week, showing just how enforced that rule really is.

Back to Alcaraz. He’s set to face the World No.3 in a tight battle for the final. Last year, Zverev was the finalist after Jannik Sinner dismantled him in the finals. Will Alcaraz make it past the German to try his hand at the title?