Hilarious scenes at Cincinnati Open as Carlos Alcaraz joins crowd in Mexican wave during rain delay in 2R vs Jordan Thompson

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz was in high spirits during a 21-minute rain delay amidst his second-round match against Australia's Jordan Thompson at the Cincinnati Open on Wednesday (August 16). Alcaraz interacted with the crowd during the break, joining them in performing the much-famed Mexican wave.

The Spaniard waved his hands sheepishly three times and was seemingly amused by the crowd, going by his smile in the video posted by TennisTV's social media handle.

"Joining in the rain delay fun," they wrote.

A journalist named Vansh summed up every fan's reaction to Alcaraz's exuberant smile, which has become famous lately. He claimed that the 20-year-old hadn't "stopped smiling and laughing this entire 15 minute rain delay".

"Alcaraz hasn’t stopped smiling and laughing this entire 15 minute rain delay," he wrote.

Carlos Alcaraz wins three-setter to notch his 50th win of the 2023 season

Carlos Alcaraz beat Jordan Thompson to advance to the Round of 16 at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters

The rain came at 2-1 in the opening set, forcing Carlos Alcaraz and Jordan Thompson to stop playing. Play eventually resumed after 21 minutes, but the Spaniard seemed to have lost his focus as he went 4-2 down.

The first set was far from over at this point, though, as the reigning Wimbledon champion fought back to level the score and eventually win it 7-5 in an hour and 39 minutes.

Although Thompson struck back immediately by winning the second set 6-4, he was eventually denied by the two-time Major winner, who won the deciding set 6-3. With his 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory, the World No. 1 recorded his 50th match-win on the ATP tour this year.

For academic purposes, no other player has won as many matches in 2023 as Carlos Alcaraz. The likes of Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have won 48, 41, 40 and 39 matches respectively.

The World No. 1 has had a scintillating season in 2023, winning 50 matches for just five losses. His year began in unceremonious fashion, as he was forced to withdraw from the 2023 Australian Open citing a right hamstring injury. He also struggled with the issue during his loss to Cameron Norrie in the 2023 Rio Open final.

Alcaraz eventually managed to recover from the slow start by winning the Indian Wells Masters a few weeks later and followed that triumph up with another ATP Masters 1000 title victory in Madrid. The World No. 1 saved his best for this year's Wimbledon Championships, though, as he defeated 23-time Major winner Novak Djokovic in a comprehensive five-set battle to win his maiden Wimbledon title.

The Spaniard will next face either USA's Tommy Paul or France's Ugo Humbert in his Round-of-16 match. While he is yet to face the Frenchman on the ATP tour, he lost to the World No. 13 Paul just a week ago in Toronto.