2023-05-26 02:19:14
what happens with Carlos Alcaraz is that sometimes you lose perspective that he is a kid who has just turned 20 years old. “And the rivals also play…”, he affirms Antonio Martínez Cascales, one of the people who is in the daily life of the Murcian, the founder of the JC Ferrero Equelite, where he has polished his tennis since he was a child. That is why they did not think too much about the defeat he suffered in Rome against the unknown Marozsan, who has now been left out of Paris after falling in the previous one. “There was no turning around because the other player played well and because he had mental fatigue that did not allow him to react in important moments, where he usually puts everything in. He lacked a bit of physical, mental strength, to be a little fresher” adds Cascales. Alcaraz arrived after winning in Barcelona and Madrid and went to the Italian capital with the intention of doing his best, but he did not give it.
“With his right hand he gives him a little more arc, but not much. He hits it just as hard. It’s mental, knowing that more balls are going to come back”
The good side of going down so early is that he was able to stop. He lost on Monday, May 15, rested for three days, and on Friday and Saturday he trained at the academy in Villena. On Monday he did it in Murcia and on Tuesday, at the gym because the rain prevented him from picking up the racket. He has helped him to reset and to engage in several preparation days, which has not happened for a long time, basically because he has reached the final rounds almost in every tournament.
is prepared to face Roland Garrosthe first Grand Slam that he will play as number one, after not being able to do so due to injury to the Open the Australia. It will be the third time that he plays in Paris (we return to perspective), but this time it is different. If last year it was the surprise of the circuit, now it is a worldwide phenomenon that everyone wants to see and pursues. “He is doing well. Much better than what could be expected in a boy who has just turned 20. He is with his feet on the ground, he remains the same as a couple of years ago, I have not seen any changes in him. He is aware of what which he is now, but at the same time he is still rooted to his people, to his training site, to his family, to his club, to the academy. He is very calm”, says Cascales. He arrives with a handful of games and important moments behind him, despite the fact that his career is still very short. “In the end in 2022 he was 19 years old, he had won the Godó and Madrid, but then a Grand Slam is a Grand Slam. This year he is more mature, he already has the US Open, he has experienced tough matches in Paris like the one in Albert Ramos… In the end, in tennis you have to go through these experiences, you are not a 19-year-old who joins a soccer team and there are ten who can support you,” explains Cascales.
“Yes, he pushes himself, but the truth is that it is good for him to set such high goals”
His career and his way of being mean that Carlos does not hide why he is in Paris: to try to win. He is in the group of favorites along with Djokovic, Tsitsipas… It puts, somehow, pressure. “Yes, he pushes himself, but the reality is that he’s doing well. He says it in a natural way, it’s not that he sees himself as superior, but he knows that if he fights and plays at his level, he sees himself with options. He’s doing well It’s good to set such high goals. He says it without arrogance and also that he is there, as are others,” he continues. The draw that was held yesterday gave him a difficult path: he made his debut against a player from the previous one and then, according to logic and the states of form, it could be O’Conell or Taro Daniel, Shapovalov, Norrie, Tsitsipas, Djokovic (in the semifinals ) and Medvedev or Rune.
The Murcian has only lost two games on land in 2023, for 19 wins. Not that he is a specialist on this surface. It is, actually, in all of them, although on the slower ground the way of playing does vary somewhat. “The blows change them a bit, from the right hand above all it gives it more arc, looking for a ball that stings more, that bounces more. Tactically, it goes up less to the net, although it continues to go up, but you have to choose the shot better because it is more It’s easy for them to pass you; the drop shot as always and a little more; and he knows that he has to mature the points a bit because a good shot of his on hard court is a direct point, and on clay they hit him and he has to give a second or a third “It’s a tactical and mental change. It’s not exactly being patient, because he’s going to hit just as hard, it’s knowing that the ball is going to come back more and you’re going to have to move the other more”, analyzes Antonio Martínez Cascales.
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