Alcaraz pleased with recent mentality, sets sights on year-end No 1
Carlos Alcaraz believes he has more to offer over the North American hardcourt swing
DPPI / Panoramic
Carlos Alcaraz has fired a warning shot heading into Cincinnati this week: he’s not been playing his best tennis, and he’s coming for the year-end No 1 spot.
The Spaniard shared ahead of the Masters 1000 events that despite winning 20 of his past 22 games, he doesn’t feel like he’s been at his best on court.
“Probably most of the matches I won, I won them without playing great tennis, or I felt like I didn’t play really great tennis,” the 21-year-old said on Monday.
Since late May, Alcaraz has won two Grand Slams and an Olympic silver medal, with the only blemishes on his resume being a second-round loss to Jack Draper in Queens and his recent defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Paris final.
most of the matches I won, I won them without playing great tennis
Carlos Alcaraz
What he is most pleased about across the past 10 weeks, is the mental resolve he’s shown to win ugly at times.
“The way that I approach every match, I stay there strong mentally in some situations, I’m really, really happy about that,” he shared.
“[I’m happy] about the way that I [handled] some situations, that I stayed there, even knowing that I didn’t play, or I wasn’t playing great tennis. But [I played] with a positive attitude, with the right face always and trying to find solutions in some moments that I could do it. I’m really happy about it.”
Now, Alcaraz has taken some time away from tennis since competing at the Olympics, and he’s ready to get his teeth into the North American hardcourt swing–and have a crack at the year-end No 1 position.
Alcaraz hungry for year-end No 1
Courtesy of Alcaraz winning Wimbledon and Roland-Garros, the Spaniard is now just 450 points behind Race to Turin leader Jannik Sinner.
He has made no secret of his intentions for the remainder of the season, either.
This year, ending the year as No 1 is one of my main goals right now
Carlos Alcaraz
“I’m fighting for being No 1 in the race, that’s something that I really want to do as soon as possible,” Alcaraz said.
“I’m really focused on that. I’m focused on going to every tournament, thinking about playing great tennis, doing a good result just to get better in the race.
“Obviously being No 1 is a goal every time that I am [behind] and the race is an important ranking for me. At the end of the year, if you end the race No 1, in the rankings [it is] quite similar, so you’re going to end the No 1.
“This year, ending the year as No 1 is one of my main goals right now. So I’m looking forward to doing it and let’s see.”
With Sinner nursing his hip in a recent loss to Andrey Rublev, and Djokovic playing a stripped-back schedule, Alcaraz has every chance of seeing his goal come to fruition over the next three months.
