Carlos Alcaraz He returned to the Australian Open after missing 2023 with a muscle injury in his right leg before boarding a plane to Melbourne. As it was, also in 2024 he repeated the act of postponing the trip to the antipodes as much as possible, being the last of the international numbers to reach the venue of the first Grand Slam of the season.
“We finished the season very late. I preferred to have vacations to recover my body and mind. Obviously I prefer to have a good preseason. We talked about it with the team, that we need between five and six weeks to have a good preseason. There is no time left to play an official tournament then,” explained the Murcian, 20 years old and world number two.
He played two friendly matches at Rod Laver Arena, the Melbourne Park headquarters where he should debut on Tuesday 16th at the 2024 Australian Open, against the Frenchman. Richard Gasquet.
Lost to the Australian Alex de Minaurdefeat the Norwegian Casper Ruud. “It helps to have an official competition before, but I’m a boy who doesn’t need a lot of competition before a big tournament. I think I’ve done things well and I feel ready,” he reflected .
So he considers that “this year I think will be a good year. I hope it will be as good as 2023”, where he won Wimbledon, his second Grand Slam after US Open 2022. He wants to raise the score, knowing that to do so he needs to iron out some of the flaws that hampered his late last season.
His trainer, Juan Carlos Ferrero, said goodbye to the ATP Finals that gave a touch to his student, who invited himself to turn professional from January to November. Alcaraz heeded the warning, and began committing these youthful sins with his team.
He kept to himself what improvements he would show on the track in the technical section. He reveals the part of the problem that deserves an attention message from his technician. “I can say that I am 20 years old and I am very absent-minded. Punctuality can have an influence on the court. You have to improve as a person, order and punctuality, everything related to this kind of things,” he confessed. . .
Order and punctuality. “Everyone can be better on and off the track. I’m not perfect, so I have to improve a lot of things on the track and off. We’re doing it with my team,” he said.
He won’t be with her this time. Juan Carlos Ferrero, recently had knee surgery. The coach replaced him Samuel Lopez. “It’s hard not to be with Juan Carlos, but Sam is a good coach and I have one hundred percent trust in him,” he said. Carlos Alcaraz, in Melbourne with the ambition of winning a third Grand Slam and fighting to wrest the number one from Novak Djokovic. He starts from zero, while the Serbian will deduct 2,000 points, when the real starting difference between them is 200 in favor of ‘No’.
As in the past, Alcaraz I have no doubts to sign a final against Djokovic, because “I am ambitious and this is an extra motivation. He always wants to play against the best to know my level. I hope to play the final against to him.”
Source: La Verdad
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