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“It’s a dream come true for me. It’s great to win but even if I had lost, I would have been really proud…playing a final against a legend…” the ATP’s no. 2, Carlos Alcaraz said after winning Wimbledon over Novak Djokovic.
It was the best of times, but sometimes the worst comes when Alcaraz falls to someone not in the top 10. It was his loss to Fabian Marozsan ranked no. 135 from Hungry at the Italian Open that shocked the Spaniard. “I didn’t play really well.
He surprised me a lot. His level was really high. I couldn’t follow his level. He was as the same level the whole match which is very difficult”. Carlos was frustrated by his inability to defeat the Hungarian no matter how hard he tried.
“I tried to fight until the last ball but it wasn’t enough,” he said out of desperation. The reality of Grigor Dimitrov (ranked no. 18) a near veteran of the tour had rocked Alcaraz at the round of 16’s Shanghai Masters.
“I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to apply constant pressure against him, smiled Dimitrov. But Alcaraz wasn’t doing well mentally. “It’s been complicated for me to finish the year as No. 1, but I will try to do my best in Basel.
It’s going to be difficult but I want to try”. The Spaniard had also fallen to Tommy Paul in the quarterfinal of the Canadian Open in August. Paul ranked no. 12 ws at the top of his game after so may injuries and surgeries.
He was glad to have decoded Alcaraz’s strategies to come up with the win. Alcaraz was not feeling it a bit. But Carlito shined with a titled win over Brit’s Cameron Norrie ranked no. 18 at the Argentina Open in February. It was his first tournament in 2023 back from multiple injuries and his 7th career title.
“I felt very comfortable playing the final…I knew it was going to be really difficult. I started to really focus on what I had to do at the beginning, my game, my level,” Alcaraz said with a huge, proud grin. Despite the roles being reversed in the next tournament with Norrie’s win over Alcaraz at the Rio Open final, Carlos stayed confident.
He got real in analyzing his game saying “I had my chances to win the final in the second set. Unfortunately it’s tough to play on the same pain you had months ago,” Alcaraz said dejectedly on losing. It was his recurring leg injury that took him off the court for three months.
“I couldn’t do it,” the Spaniard said. Cam Norrie is hardly the only rival of Alcaraz. The Spaniard also has his hands full when the draw pairs him with Italy’s Jannik Sinner. They’re head-to-head is 4-all and it’s a wonder who will break the tie.
Novak Djokovic is always a threat. He and Carlos have met 5 times with the Serb leading 3 to 2. The Spaniard has to have high level strategies to have victories over Daniil Medvedev too. Challenges never end for Carlos Alcaraz but if the draw is in his favor, he’ll do well.
Whether it’s Djokovic, Medvedev, Sinner or Rafael Nadal, Carlito knows he has to play at a high, extreme level to gain confidence and the ultimate success.
