Alcaraz: “I’ve rediscovered my joy and energy thanks to the team events”

He was at the end of his rope, but now he’s back on the steamroller. Worn out after winning the French Open and Wimbledon – becoming the youngest player in the Open era to achieve the double, and the earliest in history to be crowned on three different Grand Slam surfaces – before going on to win a silver medal at the Olympic Games, Carlos Alcaraz lost some of his lustre during the North American swing.

Beaten first by Gaël Monfils in Cincinnati, then in the second round of the US Open by Botic van de Zandschulp, he appeared emotionally drained, as Patrick Mouratoglou analysed in Eye of the Coach. So much so that he smashed his racket like never before on the main tour in Cincy, a man who has always explained his vital need for pleasure and smiles in order to shine.

Unbeaten since the end of the US Open

You’d have thought he’d be better off sipping his juice in the sun for a few days. Instead, he chose the opposite option. Schedule the matches. Play in the Davis Cup, then the Laver Cup before flying off to Asia. It paid off: he won nine singles matches in a row (including the Laver Cup), culminating in the monumental ATP 500 final in Beijing and a win over Jannik Sinner.

Perhaps a little schizophrenic on the edges, the Spanish phenomenon, in the midst of this infernal rhythm, pointed the finger at the very – too – busy calendar, no longer allowing him “enough time to recuperate or set aside training blocks’. A fair criticism, given that tennis is perhaps the only sport to be played over 11 months of the year; but a contradictory one, given that he has added to his already copious schedule with exhibitions – the Laver Cup in September, the Six Kings Slam in October.

I’m ready for the next tournaments and I’m enjoying myself again.

Carlos Alcaraz

Nevertheless, the discrepancy between his words and his actions has not gone unnoticed. The man nicknamed ‘Carlitos’ and his team have relied on a succession of matches, at the risk of physical exhaustion, to get back on top in terms of ‘mental freshness’. You may be caught in the drum of the machine, but in the end, it’s when it’s stopped that it stops generating energy.

“How have you regained your energy for the Asian tour?” Juan Carlos Ferrero’s protégé was asked at a press conference in Shanghai on Thursday. “Through training,” he replied. “I had a very good month of training when I came back from the United States. The Davis Cup and the Laver Cup helped me a lot to get my energy back, to get motivated again.”

No respite planned before the end of November

“I love playing as part of a team, being with my partners and all the people around me, and also for the atmosphere off the court, which is a very important aspect for me,” he added. “These events (the Davis Cup and the Laver Cup) have allowed me to rediscover the joy of being on the court. I arrived in Asia with a lot of energy, enjoying every second I spent on the court, which is essential for me. Now I’m ready for the next tournaments, and I’m really looking forward to them.”

Alcaraz is off to a flying start, but he is not expected to take a breather until the end of November, when he and Rafael Nadal are due to play in the Davis Cup Final 8. Before that, the ATP Finals is his main objective at the end of the season. The one for which he says he “wants to play as much as possible” in order to gain experience on indoor hard courts. The steamroller wants to give himself the means to be completely all-terrain.

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