Alcaraz: “It will be a war”

Just one match away from being crowned at Indian Wells and reclaiming the world number one, Carlos Alcaraz pointed out this Saturday that he expects a very demanding final against Daniil Medvedev, the strongest player on the circuit with a 19 match winning streak and three tournament winning streak.

“He is almost a wall – he gives you everything back, he moves well, he takes you away well, He put everything to play, that in the end you also have to know how to manage it,” Alcaraz said in a press conference.

“We have to be patient, play at a high level and come out thinking it’s going to be a war.. All the points should think that they will be 20 balls and from there try to set our rhythm and our game. But we will see what happens because he comes with a very high winning streak,” he added.

After losing in 2022 in the Indian Wells semifinals to Rafa Nadal, Alcaraz qualified for the final of the first Masters 1000 of the season by defeating Italian Jannik Sinner this Saturday 7-6(4) and 6-3 in one hour and 52 minutes.

Although in the second set he clearly pressed his game, the first was even and difficult, so Alcaraz had to settle a set point from Sinner.

“I had my options to have a ‘break’ and deliver new ballsbut there I had a little oversight and from there everything was evened out,” he explained.

“I saved a ‘set ball’ in such a way that I almost lost it. And so, in the end it was equal until the end of the ‘tie break’ (…). The set may fall from Jannik perfectly but they are small details,” he added.

Alcaraz, who has yet to lose a set in this edition of Indian Wells, he reflected on his mindset at key moments in matches, saying “it’s not easy to close out both sets and matches.”

“You always think: ‘And if I lose it, and if they bring me back …’ Instead, it seems unbelievable, but when you fight it’s like: ‘Well, I’ll play my game and if I lose there is still a set left. whole or if I lose I lose and nothing will happen'”, he said.

“I don’t prepare in any way at such times but just try to play a good point.. In tense moments I try to play at a high level, which is what the very best do. I think in tense moments you can see the difference between the good ones and the very good ones,” he said.

JUST A PRECEDENT AGAINST MEDVEDEV

Looking forward to the finals on Sunday There is only one precedent between Medvedev and Alcaraz: a Wimbledon second-round match in 2021 that the Russian won 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

But a lot has happened in the past two years and both Medvedev and Alcaraz consider that now the situation is very different for both.

“If I’m not mistaken, when I played him he was number two in the world and I had just started playing on the tour.He is not an experienced player. For me it was a strange match”, said the Spaniard.

“Now it is completely different. Now I have more experience than that fight. I know how to play against him. I have trained with him several times (…). I think it will be a completely different game,” he said.

Finally, Alcaraz He said that he jumped on the court in Indian Wells focused on the game and not on taking the number one from Novak Djokovicthat he would get it if he won the contest.

“I’ll try not to think about it. I’ll try to think of things I should do. Tomorrow will be a really tactical match against Daniil. It’s going to be really hard and I have to do, let’s say, everything is perfect. That’s all I’ll think about tomorrow,” he said.