Category: Carlos Alcaraz

Carlos Alcaraz says he dreams of being part of a rivalry like Roger Federer had with Rafael Nadal to help push him to his “maximum level”.

It was 20 years ago in Miami that one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history was born as Federer and Nadal faced off for the first time.

There would be 39 more meetings to follow as Nadal and Federer battled for supremacy on the biggest stages across 15 seasons.

It was a rivalry that will live long in the memory, and one that has resonated with Alcaraz.

“They have had a very nice and demanding rivalry at the same time,” said the world No. 2.

“What I’ve learned from this rivalry is that you can never fall behind or give up or settle. You always have to improve, you always have to raise your level. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re at your maximum level, that you can’t give more, you can always give a little more.

“That’s what they’ve shown for so many years that they’ve been up there. Every time they lost to each other, they tried to be better to win the next time. And they’ve done that for a long time, which is something incredible and something to admire.

“I wish I could have a rivalry like they have had.”

It seems more likely than not that Alcaraz, who plays Gael Monfils in the last 32 of the Miami Open on Monday, will be part of the next great rivalry in men’s tennis.

There have been early signs of that in his eight matches against world No. 3 Jannik Sinner, with plenty of thrilling moments and some incredible shot-making from both players.

At 20 and 22, Alcaraz and Sinner are considered the likely leaders of the next generation when world No. 1 Novak Djokovic retires.

“Hopefully both Jannik and I have a nice long future ahead of us,” said Alcaraz.

“In that way I hope I can give my best level and continue to grow thanks to him while I see the level he is having.”

Alcaraz and Sinner are on course to meet in the final of the Miami Open.

It would be the second meeting between the pair this year, with Alcaraz winning in three sets when they clashed in the Indian Wells semis earlier this month.

“He’s an incredible player and usually when we play it’s a very good match-up. We both try our best on the court. We have a lot of respect for each other.

“Off the court we don’t speak that much because he has his own things and I have my things, but on the court he’s a player who can show so many things on the court.

“He has a lot of emotions, he shows a really good fighting spirit. Everyone is different, I am not showing so many emotions on the court, but it works as well for my side.

“I’m very happy always when I face him and it gives me a chance to see a new perspectives for what I have to work on.

“Last year I lost against him also in the semi-finals there. I just try to be ready and hopefully I can do also this year the same.”

Sinner plays Christopher O’Connell in the last 16 on Tuesday.

Carlos Alcaraz says he dreams of being part of a rivalry like Roger Federer had with Rafael Nadal to help push him to his “maximum level”.

It was 20 years ago in Miami that one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history was born as Federer and Nadal faced off for the first time.

There would be 39 more meetings to follow as Nadal and Federer battled for supremacy on the biggest stages across 15 seasons.

It was a rivalry that will live long in the memory, and one that has resonated with Alcaraz.

“They have had a very nice and demanding rivalry at the same time,” said the world No. 2.

“What I’ve learned from this rivalry is that you can never fall behind or give up or settle. You always have to improve, you always have to raise your level. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re at your maximum level, that you can’t give more, you can always give a little more.

“That’s what they’ve shown for so many years that they’ve been up there. Every time they lost to each other, they tried to be better to win the next time. And they’ve done that for a long time, which is something incredible and something to admire.

“I wish I could have a rivalry like they have had.”

It seems more likely than not that Alcaraz, who plays Gael Monfils in the last 32 of the Miami Open on Monday, will be part of the next great rivalry in men’s tennis.

There have been early signs of that in his eight matches against world No. 3 Jannik Sinner, with plenty of thrilling moments and some incredible shot-making from both players.

At 20 and 22, Alcaraz and Sinner are considered the likely leaders of the next generation when world No. 1 Novak Djokovic retires.

“Hopefully both Jannik and I have a nice long future ahead of us,” said Alcaraz.

“In that way I hope I can give my best level and continue to grow thanks to him while I see the level he is having.”

Alcaraz and Sinner are on course to meet in the final of the Miami Open.

It would be the second meeting between the pair this year, with Alcaraz winning in three sets when they clashed in the Indian Wells semis earlier this month.

“He’s an incredible player and usually when we play it’s a very good match-up. We both try our best on the court. We have a lot of respect for each other.

“Off the court we don’t speak that much because he has his own things and I have my things, but on the court he’s a player who can show so many things on the court.

“He has a lot of emotions, he shows a really good fighting spirit. Everyone is different, I am not showing so many emotions on the court, but it works as well for my side.

“I’m very happy always when I face him and it gives me a chance to see a new perspectives for what I have to work on.

“Last year I lost against him also in the semi-finals there. I just try to be ready and hopefully I can do also this year the same.”

Sinner plays Christopher O’Connell in the last 16 on Tuesday.

The growing rivalry between two of tennis’ hottest prospects Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz has fans gripped and the former hopes the pair can compete with each other at the highest level for many years to come.

After eight meetings between the duo, they each have four wins, with Alcaraz also prevailing in last year’s semi-final in California.

Alcaraz is the top seed in Miami and will face Aleksandar Vukic or Roberto Carballes Baena in his first match, while second seed Sinner is on the other side of the draw, meaning a mouth-watering rematch is possible.

Sinner, 23, insists he has nothing but respect for his 20-year-old nemesis and looks forward to many more battles with the Spaniard in the future.

“I enjoy it [the rivalry], hopefully it has just started,” Sinner told press ahead of his Miami Open round of 64 match with Andrea Vavassori on Friday.

“He’s an incredible player and usually when we play it’s a very good match up. We both try our best on the court. We have a lot of respect for each other.

“Off the court we don’t speak that much because he has his own things and I have my things, but on the court he’s a player who can show so many things on the court.

“He has a lot of emotions, he shows a really good fighting spirit. Everyone is different, I am not showing so many emotions on the court, but it works as well for my side.

“I’m very happy always when I face him and it gives me a chance to see a new perspectives for what I have to work on.

“Last year I lost against him also in the semi-finals there. I just try to be ready and hopefully I can do also this year the same.”

Sinner dismissed the notion that the pressure of protecting his 19-match winning run had weighed heavily on his shoulders.

“It’s just a match,” he responded.

“Every tournament you go to, it’s a new opportunity and here is a new opportunity again for me to show some good tennis.

“There are tough situations on the court which I have to solve, like in every other match and then that’s it.

“No, I was not even thinking about the wins and the losses throughout the year.

“I knew that the point [the defeat] was going to come. I’m happy that it came in a quite late stage of a tournament which means a lot to me, the semi-final in a 1000 event is still a great result.”

Carlos Alcaraz needs a “leap in understanding” in how he can win matches when he is “at his worst”, believes Mats Wilander.

Alcaraz, now competing in Miami, put together a fine run at ‘Tennis Paradise’, beating his Australian Open conqueror Alexander Zverev in the last eight, sweeping past Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals, and then downing Daniil Medvedev in the final to secure his triumph.

Some of the talk centred around how conditions favoured Alcaraz in the Californian desert, and Wilander – amid an overall assessment of where the Spaniard is at in his development – thinks it pointed to a major way he can improve his game.

“I think there was a lot of pressure on him [Alcaraz] after he won his first Grand Slam at the US Open a couple of years ago,” Wilander, speaking to Eurosport, began.

“And I think winning Wimbledon, maybe that is what pressure feels like. But it seemed to me like he wasn’t quite as keen or as interested in the final picture, which is winning the tennis match.

“So I think that for him it was most probably more, and I can relate to this myself, I won Roland-Garros on clay in 1982. Then I won the Australian Open in 1983 on grass. That legitimised me being at the top of the game, to me, and maybe I even thought it legitimised it to other people. You could say whatever you want, but I know how to play and win on two different surfaces.

“For Carlos, I think it was the same thing. I really do. I think there was a moment of relaxation, relief, maybe more than anything. And then let’s keep in mind searching: he’s still searching for his game.

“And I think for Carlos, I think he has to move towards being a better player every single day. Not when he’s at his best, but when he’s at his worst. He needs to figure that out very early in matches, and we saw in the Australian Open against Sasha Zverev: he didn’t, and he never got it back.

“So I think that there’s a big leap in understanding how good he is and what it takes for him to beat most players. But pressure, I think he loves being out there. I think he loves the enjoyment part of hitting a tennis ball. He now seems to be enjoying winning again, which is really good to see.”

It looked at the outset of their Indian Wells semi-final that Sinner would make it a third win on the spin against Alcaraz, when he strode to the first set 6-1.

But back came Alcaraz to take the next two sets, in the pair’s latest duel.

Wilander gave his opinion on why he sees the pair’s rivalry as comparable to that seen between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

The Swede said: “I think this is what’s going to make this rivalry so great. This is what made Federer and Nadal’s rivalry so great. Contrast of style first of all, it seemed like after a while, Federer and Nadal, of course, they care more than anything in the world at the moment who’s winning the match, but before, no, didn’t matter. Afterwards, not that much.

“Of course, the guy that won has to play another match normally, and Sinner-Alcaraz is the same. So I think what we’re seeing is one of the main reasons why both of them are going to play great tennis: because they’re so relaxed and they are only worried about each other’s games.

“There is no mentality situation where the other guy doesn’t like the other guy or the other guy is trying to slow things down or be unsportsmanlike – that doesn’t exist between them.

“Therefore, they will always love this rivalry as long as they keep winning one each. I think this rivalry is going to get better and better and they’re going to enjoy it more and more.”

Alcaraz, in such a short career, has already become one of the most watchable players in the game, with his remarkable shot-making twinned with incredible athleticism.

And Wilander thinks that his Indian Wells victory will be “huge for his confidence”.

“I think for Carlos Alcaraz, this victory, even though somehow I think it was kind of expected – OK, he hasn’t won since Wimbledon, but clearly last year and the year before, we realised how good the conditions are in Indian Wells for him – and he seemed like he was playing good in the beginning,” Wilander said.

“I saw the first round where he lost a set, and then he got better and better. And first, the crowd loves him there like I’ve never seen a player, maybe Roger Federer in his heyday, but they go absolutely crazy for him there. It’s a lot of Hispanic people, he’s the clear crowd favourite.

“And I think there is a certain amount of pressure at the same time as I think he really loves just playing there. You can tell against Jannik Sinner, even if Sinner most probably hurt himself a little bit in one of those falls, but at the same time, it’s nearly impossible to beat Alcaraz on those courts.

“I think for him just to win on the courts, that I think are his favourite surface, I believe slow, hard courts, fast balls, because of the air being warm and a bit of altitude.This is Alcaraz’s territory. He’s always going to do well there, even if not in his best shape.

“But it did turn out he played well. He can play better, but I think it is a huge victory for his confidence and just to stabilise. ‘Hey, guys, I’m still here. You give me the right conditions; I am the best player in the world.’ That is kind of what he’s saying.”