Dani Rincon21 years old and world No. 216, is one of the young people called to occupy a new link in the fruitful chain of Spanish tennis, which is now less greased than in previous years. US Open Junior Champion in 2021, the man from Ávila has been friends with Carlos Alcaraz since he was nine years old and grew up playing alongside him. Dani, therefore, witnessed the Murcian’s brilliant rise to No. 1, a happy and at the same time complicated situation for him.
Where are you in your career?
It was a complicated moment. At the level of the game, I am improving a lot, but the results are not mine. I hope they start coming and it gets off the track because right now people seem to be in a rush. In Spain, we also have the case of Rafa and Carlos, they both entered early and are number 1, that seems to be normal and, if you go a little bit, you are not that good. Obviously I’m not as good as them, but I try not to rush, take my time, trust that things will come. I try to work my way through what people might say.
You grew up next to Carlos Alcaraz. How did you deal with the situation?
I won’t deny that it’s complicated. I know Carlos since I was nine years old, I play with him every week. When he starts to fly and I take a path that is not as good as his, it is true that it becomes complicated for me. Not now, I have assumed it, everyone has their own path. Naturally, people raved about it when Carlos started racking up a lot of ATP points when he was 16 years old. I continued to play in the juniors. Carlos was number 1 so fast that at one point it might have affected me, but now I’m calm and I accept it.
Is the jump from juniors to professionals too complicated?
Yes, it is very complicated now. People will retire later and you will find very good people among the challengers, like for example Richard Gasquet, a player with incredible talent. They are very hard to win. I gradually moved away. I skipped the Futures phase pretty quickly and last summer I managed to put together some good weeks in the challengers. I have never won a round in an ATP big draw. It is very difficult, but I trust that the results will come.
What does the US Open junior title in 2021 mean to you?
It gave me a lot of confidence, a lot of people started to trust me and say nice things, but it also had a negative side because maybe the expectations were too high. People expect a lot from you and, after three or four months go by and you don’t get spectacular results, the situation turns around and you seem worse off than if you didn’t win. It has good and bad sides. Over the years I’ve managed to focus only on the good ones, but it’s true that it took me a while.
What is the main difference between juniors and professionals?
It’s a completely different world. As with any job, maybe someone who started working at age 18 is not the same as someone who has been working for 12 years. The same thing happens in tennis. In juniors you only compete against your age or younger and in professionals you are already with experienced people, who have better physique than you. You are number 2 in the juniors and it is very good, you go to the Futures and you think you are still the best, but in reality you are the worst. Expectations that are too high are the hardest to manage and that’s what makes this transition even more difficult.
He has also been in Rafa Nadal’s Academy for five years.
Being in Manacor has helped me, with people who trust me. I remember what Toni Nadal told me that being the US Open junior champion has no importance in my career, that I should continue working because I was the same two weeks ago. That helped me a lot to keep my feet on the ground. I am from Ávila and, since I was 12, I have traveled, Valladolid, Barcelona, Mallorca, I have been five years and I am happy with that. I appreciate the professional one a lot, but I appreciate the personal one the most and the way I was treated there all these years away from my family. I’m from RCT Barcelona and now I’m more in Barcelona, I alternate between Mallorca and Barcelona and since November I have been with Toni Balldellou every week.
What key advice do Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz give you?
I apply what Rafa and Carlos tell me because if they tell me it means something, right? Very simple people and very good because they hit the ball very well, they act very well, but they also don’t have a magic formula. Rafa insisted a lot on my footwork, going in and out, he’s the best on the circuit, no doubt. I don’t have much advice from Carlos, maybe because he’s been more of a friend since I was nine years old, we hardly talk about tennis more than anything else.
How many times have you played with Carlos Alcaraz?
I played him 10 or 12 times and beat him once, maybe. I beat him twice, in fact, the last game we played, the only one on the international circuit, so on the Internet we were 1-0 for me although in reality it was 12-2 or more for him. It was in a junior tournament in the Canary Islands in 2018. We were also small there, I don’t remember much, but because we were friends I think I even apologized online or something like that. We were friends and that same afternoon he, his coach and two other friends went to the dunes and we spent the afternoon as if we hadn’t played a one-on-one game in the morning.
Currently there are not many Spaniards in the top-100 and young people like you are in the spotlight to fill those gaps.
Yes, that is true, but it is also because what we have for many years is not appreciated enough, that it is seen as normal that there are 15 Spaniards in the top-100, numbers that the United States does not even have , the biggest tennis power in the world. Now there is this pressure of missing players, but I think there is a good generation behind us with players like, obviously, Carlos Alcaraz, Pablo Llamas or Martín Landaluce. I wish I could be there and there are many others I leave to try to repeat what has been done in the past, but this is something that seems almost impossible to me, because I believe that it has never been done in history.
Where do you want to be at the end of the year?
I set my goal this year to play in a Grand Slam final draw. It’s good to get into the top-100 or pass one of the previous stages, so hopefully I can make it in the three remaining Grand Slams.
Are you setting any world ranking goals this season?
No, I don’t like that very much. It is a pressure that they put on me from the outside to put it on myself. What we’re trying to do is imagine that every year you start from scratch and add as many points as possible. The ranking is pretty much according to your level, but it’s inevitable to think about it every week.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
