Carlos Alcaraz looks this Thursday at Queen’s to take another step in the set-up for his next great challenge: Wimbledon. The Murcian player is measured in Jiri Leheckaa dangerous opponent he had never met and had just lost to Alejandro Davidovich in the first round in a match where he showed greater adaptation to the grass of the London tournament.
The Czech, playing her second tournament on this surface after losing in the round of 16 in Stuttgart to Frances Tiafoe last week, He made a quality jump in 2023 that allowed him to enter the Top 40 at the age of 21.a promotion based on his excellent performance at the last Australian Open.
There he became the great sensation of the tournament by reaching the quarterfinals leaving players as tall as Borna Coric, Cameron Norrie or Felix Auger-Alissime in the gutter. Only a very inspired Stefanos Tsitsipas was able to end his adventure on Australian soil.
However, in recent weeks its results have been far from the expectations created. A bad tour on clay, with only five wins in five tournaments, prevented him from continuing his development and achieving the goal of breaking into the Top 30 and being seeded at Wimbledon.
The situation is very different for Alcaraz who after missing the entire Australian tour due to injury, is having a sensational season. which allowed him to continue adding to his record in tournaments such as Buenos Aires, Indian Wells, Conde de Godó or the Mutua Madrid Open, and fight for number 1 against Novak Djokovic.
That is precisely the other goal of the Murcian, that he will return to the top of world tennis if he is able to proclaim himself the champion of the tournament. The task was not easy, especially after the problems he went through in his debut against Arthur Rinderknech.
The reigning US Open champion has struggled to adapt to a surface he is not used to and does not fully suit his style of play. “My expectations for this tournament are not very high. It was the first grass game of the season and it was tough at first. grass is not easy. During the match I thought it was going to be better, that I was feeling better. I need it, hours on the track, playing as much as I can. For me, it’s good to have a difficult match”, explained the Murcian in a press conference.
In case of success, Alcaraz will play a pass in the semifinals against the winner of the match between Grigor Dimitrov and Francisco Cerúndolo.
Source: La Verdad
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