It’s mid-morning in Melbourne and Carlos Alcaraz speaks in zen modeIn a slow manner, the Murcian was strikingly relaxed, as if he had taken a lime tree – everything is needed to combat the time change – and what surrounds him was in perfect balance before this assault that is approaching and is already taking shape in the Open from Australia, the only big notch missing from his revolver after collecting Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Alcaraz talks about flow on the court, about that unique sensation of floating, about knowing that whatever you try, it will work out and that the ball goes strictly where it is dictated. The plenitude of the tennis player, in short.
“My greatest satisfaction is that, when you feel that you cannot fail, that you can do anything, that everything will work out. You hit big shots, running forehands, drop shots, volleys, serve and volley… Everything you want to do, you feel like it’s going to turn out well. “That’s what satisfies me the most,” says the world number three, determined to take another big hit and ready after completing a productive month of preseason in his homeland, El Palmar, polishing his tennis and bodywork with weights and rackets at the Pichón Shooting Club; The link to the preparation has been, he continues, this last week in Australia, in which he rehearsed with Djokovic, Fritz, Perricard and De Miñaur.
“A really good week”describes in English. “Seeing where I am, getting ready,” Alcaraz continues, surprising in the response immediately after, when when asked about the master shot that he would steal from a figure, he cites an extraordinary figure that he never actually saw or could continue. But there are the mobile phone, the Internet and YouTube, that endless video library of images that has allowed a centennial like him discovering the story and its protagonists. Federer’s wrists? Nadal’s forehand? Any of Djokovic’s exquisite maneuvers? Nothing of that: “I would probably choose Agassi’s backhand. I’m going to stick with that one. I think it’s good, yes,” he answers smiling.
Agassi retired in 2006, three years after he was born and with his bag of titles very full; There were 60, nothing more and nothing less, and in the four majors The American managed to leave his mark; In none, however, did he record his name as many times as in Melbourne, four (1995, 200, 2001 and 2003), so he knows the route well. The man from Las Vegas knows what this is about, him and that imaginary dragon that holds him, and he praises and warns the Spaniard at the same time: “He defends himself like Novak, he has the power and effects of Nadal, and the hand and finesse of Federer. But just because you have the best of the three doesn’t mean you can do what they did, because there are so many other aspects: decision making, injuries, luck… There are so many things.
Technical signing
And take note of the last jewel, who seems to be clear about what she wants. At least this season. Less whipping and fewer tournaments, surely, but with a high profile. “I will probably cross out some exhibitions and some tournaments. It depends on how it goes, how I feel. “This is tennis and you don’t know how things are going to go,” he says. “My goal is the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 [posee cinco: Indian Wells (2), Miami y Madrid (2)]. Obviously, the ranking is also there, try to be as close as possible to Jannik Sinner [más de 4.000 puntos por encima] or try to overtake Zverev, but the important thing is the big ones, winning as many as you can. That is my goal,” he emphasizes. In 2024 there were two, Paris and London, and he hopes to be able to increase the numbers without delay, possibly on the 26th in Melbourne.
To achieve this, Alcaraz will have this year Juan Carlos Ferrero, absent a year ago due to a meniscus operation, and with the addition to his work team of Samuel López, the technical shadow who accompanied his friend Pablo Carreño throughout an entire career and who last year already advised him during the Australian adventure, until falling in the quarterfinals with the German Alexander Zverev. “I’ve been with Juan Carlos for six years and he knows how to tell me things during games, he knows me very well. Having him back here is fantastic. Regarding Samuel, having someone who can alternate with Juanki and refreshing a little between tournaments is good. I trust him one hundred percent. He is going to be a great coach for me, for sure,” he says emphatically.
The Murcian adds that he wants to go step by step, “tournament by tournament and month by month”, and that he will be guided by instinct throughout a year in which he aspires to end up less saturated from an emotional point of view. “What I am clear about is that I do not want to play any tournament where I am going to be mentally tired, where it will be an odyssey to get there. I want to arrive at tournaments feeling good and enjoy the fact of playing. If not, but for the moment we are focused on playing what we have to play,” he closes before journalists. First stop, on Monday at the Margaret Court Arena – the program reserves the main court for Djokovic and Sinner – and against the Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko, the 72nd in the world. Not without a magnificent inspiration: that of Agassi.
