“11.09.22” It’s the tattoo on his left arm. Carlos Alcaraz. That’s the day he won US Open and that became the new world number 1, the youngest to achieve it, at 19 years, 4 months and 6 days. It is the date on which “my dream came true. A goal that I achieved very soon and caught me by surprise, so to speak,” acknowledged the Murcian tennis player in Buenos Aires, where he will compete again this Wednesday.
Since the final of his first Grand Slam won in New York against the Norwegian Casper Ruud It’s been almost five months. At that time, alcaraz He has not been able to defend that number 1 as he would have wanted because of the injuries and, after 20 weeks, he took away Novak Djokovic by winning the Australian Open.
Since his victory at the US Open Alcaraz could barely play 10 gamess (5 wins and 5 losses) before retiring, in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1,000 in Paris-Bercy, injured in the left abdominal, when he lost to the Danish Holger Rune by 6-3 and 3-1 in the ‘tie break’ of the second set.
Alcaraz could not play the Masters in Turin, nor the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga due to that injury. “I’m sorry I can’t be on the track. I hope to do it next year ”, he admitted last November in Turin when he received the 2022 number 1 trophy, the 29th in ATP history. A deserved and worked prize during 17 tournaments (5 titles) and 70 games but with a frustrating end of the year.
2023 did not start well either when alcaraz it was given Withdrawn from the Australian Open due to another muscle injury on his right leg, in training, shortly before traveling to Melbourne.
a long break
This Wednesday, after 102 days after his last match in Paris, alcaraz returns to the scene on the circuit in the tournament in Buenos Aires, on clay, to start a season of consolidation and with many challenges on your schedule ahead. “I want to continue winning many Grand Slams and recover the number 1”, highlights alcaraz before his debut.
I have many things to improve despite having been n. 1″
Carlos Alcaraz
To achieve his purpose, alcaraz He is very clear that he must follow what he must do. “I must continue training and working. I am very young and I have many things to improvedespite having been number one ”.
The fight for number 1
alcaraz begins his career in 2023 as world number 2 in the ATP rankingonly 340 points from Djokovic (7,070). The possible loss of the Serbian tennis player in the 1,000 Masters in Indian Wells and Miami, if he does not receive special permission to enter the United States because he has not been vaccinated against covid-19, would still allow the Murcian tennis player to keep up with the Serb who will return to play in Dubai (February 27).
And alcaraz If he won the title in Buenos Aires, he would add 250 points before beginning to defend the 1,860 points he earned last year from his victory in Rio de Janeiro, the Indian Wells semifinals and the title in Miami. A hard road where he could only score points if he reached the final or the title in Indian Wells, before reaching the European ground tour where he won in Barcelona and the Masters 1,000 in Madrid.
Keep improving, the key
“I had a very good year. Repeating it will not be easy. Now I have a goal, I know where I want to go, what I want to be, and that is what is important. I like to play tennis beyond the results and I want to continue enjoying it”, he valued alcaraz, who looks at the best. “Rafa, Roger or Djokovic when they were young were very good, but they have been improving and I think that I can also improve everything at the tennis, physical and mental level. That’s the key.”
On his return to Buenos Aires, in a tournament that he had not planned to play in his schedule before being forced to withdraw in Australia, he was prudent about his chances of winning it. “I always want to win but it will be my first tournament of the year and I have to pick up the competition rhythm that I still don’t have.” His first rival, this Wednesday, will be the Serbian Laszlo Djere (57 world) who defeated the Italian on Tuesday Fabio Fognini (6-4, 6-4). Five years after the young tennis player from Murcia won his first ATP matchaged 14 years and 9 months, in the ITF tournament in Murcia, against the Italian Frederick Gaius. A spectacular progression.
The number 1 has already achieved it, what Carlos wants is to compete and be healthy.”
Juan Carlos Ferrero
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“Right now, what Carlos wants is to be healthy and be able to compete, offer his best level and fight to win tournaments,” he values. Juan Carlos Ferrero in an interview on Eurosport.
The technician of alcarazwho has just turned 43 and will not be in the tournaments in Buenos Aires and Acapulco with his pupil (they will meet again in Indian Wells), assures that the goal of returning to number 1 is in the head of the Murcian tennis player but that “it is not an obsession, because of his youth and because he already has been”.
