Carlos Alcaraz spent barely an hour on the court at Arthur Ashe, the center of the US Open, in its premiere in the 2023 edition. His rival, the German Koepfer, sprained his ankle in the first game and barely resisted for a while longer than game (6-3, 3-2 and abandonment). During this time, the number one in the world had time to take sensations. “I felt very good. I was very focused and, honestly, I did not expect to play at such a high level at the beginning, in the first round,” he confessed.
One of the blows that worked best for the Spaniard was the backhand, very firm and with which he found all directions. “I think my backhand has been improving over the years. When I was young, my forehand was my best shot. It still is, but I feel very comfortable with my backhand”, the Spaniard acknowledged the days before the tournament, and also spoke about when he tried to make that shot, which he now executes with two hands, like most tennis players, go to one: “When I was young, I loved trying new things. Probably the one-handed backhand was one of those things that I practiced just for one day. I love doing different shots, different things on the court. Probably that day I saw a Roger Federer match and tried to imitate him,” he acknowledged.
Carlos has always admitted that Roger Federer is one of his references. In an interview when he was 12 years old, he did not hesitate to point out that he was his idol:
And in the past Wimbledon, which he won brilliantly after a historic final with Djokovic, when he found out that the Swiss was there, Alcaraz revealed that he would have loved to meet him and chat for a few minutes, but in the end that meeting could not take place. . One of the few thorns that the world number one in the world also admits is not having been able to face Federer on the track, since his irruption on the circuit came when the Swiss was in full recovery from the knee operation that finally gave him led to retire.
They were able to share a training session at Wimbledon 2019, when the Helvetian was looking for his ninth title in the Cathedral (he lost the famous final with Djokovic in which he wasted two match points) and the Spaniard was in the junior edition. The meeting had an anecdote, since Roger wanted to repeat and was wrong and instead of saying that he wanted to play with Carlos, Juan Carlos said, and Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach and Federer’s former rival, appeared for the preparatory session. The Swiss would later say that “Juanki” was ready to return to the slopes and that he had not “failed a single one”.
2023-08-30 13:27:52
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