Alcaraz says he’s back to his best: “I feel I’m playing the same level as the first part of the year”

A chat with his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero helped Alcaraz rediscover his best form

Chryslene Caillaud / Panoramic

Simon Cambers

November 17, 2023

Nitto ATP Finals •group-stage • completed

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C. AlcarazvsD. Medvedev

When Carlos Alcaraz lost his opening match at the ATP Finals to Alexander Zverev on Monday, the young Spaniard looked tired, admitted he was jaded and looked for all the world as if he’d be putting his feet up before the week was out.

Four days later, after a good win over Andrey Rublev and a sensational performance against Daniil Medvedev, the Wimbledon champion is through to the semi-finals and just two wins away from winning the title on his debut in the eight-man event. He will play world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the semis on Saturday.

“I feel that I am playing the same level that I’ve been playing the first part of the year,” he said. “My best match since Wimbledon? Maybe the second, because (in the final in) Cincinnati, even if I lost (to Novak Djokovic), it was one of my best matches ever.”

8 – Carlos Alcaraz is the 8th Spanish player to reach the ATP Finals SFs (after Orantes, Bruguera, Moya, Corretja, Ferrero, Nadal and Ferrer): only the USA have now more semi-finalists at this event (21). Fiesta.#NittoATPFinals | @atptour @ATPMediaInfo pic.twitter.com/uAZ87Op3m2
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) November 17, 2023

Alcaraz: “I have to give everything I have left in the tank”

So what changed? A few words from his coach, it seems, did the trick.

“I had a discussion with Juan Carlos (Ferrero) after the first match,” he said, answering questions from Spanish reporters.

“People around me and even other people felt, in my attitude, that I was not my own self compared to the previous weeks of the season. I have to enjoy what I do to be at my top mentally. What we said is that for the last tournament of the year, I have to give everything I have left in the tank.

“It’s all about forgetting that you are tired because it’s the Masters. I’ve came to enjoy being here, every day since happened very well, I was back at my game and I could finally win these matches.”

Winning the title still a long way off

Alcaraz plays Djokovic again, for a place in the final, and knows he will need to maintain his rediscovered level.

“Well, it is just two matches (from winning the title), but at the same time is too far away,” he said. “I have Novak in the semifinal. If I win that match, I have a really tough final.

“I’m dreaming about winning this tournament. Why not? But I have to play my best first in semi-final. I’m going to face one of the best players in history. I’m going to face the best player in the world right now. I will have to put my best game if I want to beat him.”