An hour after having resolved the debut in Melbourne against Alexander Shevchenko (6-1, 7-5 and 6-1, in 1h 54m), Carlos Alcaraz chats with four journalists sitting on a velvet sofa and with one of the white bottles that distributes the organization to the tennis players between the legs. The initials, CA, are marked on the surface of the cap, and when you place it on the carpet you can hear the metallic sound. It turns out that a few days ago a video went viral in which the Murcian meticulously placed the drums during the pre-tournament exhibition against Alex de Miñaur and, immediately, the parallels with Rafael began to circulate at full speed on the networks. Nadal, who used to put a lot of emphasis on that arrangement in order to concentrate better.
The subject slips into the Murcian’s mind and he laughs. “If they called me before mini-Rafa“Now I won’t even tell you… Turn it off and let’s go!” he says, aware that any maneuver or gesture he may make, or any milestone he may mark, will be directly compared to those of the Mallorcan, who has retired since November. And he goes on to explain that, in reality, the precision he makes relatively frequently does not respond so much to an obsessive mania as to a mere question of correctness: “It’s not a tic as such, but I simply like to have them well aligned; not as much as Rafa, obviously, because he has to make them perfect… [risas]. But I always try to keep them aligned and not disordered.”
The fact is that all help is little to contribute to the objective of not letting our guard down because Alcaraz, pure generation Z, takes the occasional mental walk when he sees that things are going well and that his quality is much higher than that of his rival. It has happened on several occasions since it is one of the benchmarks on the circuit and also in the past. The technicians who trained him when he was a child say that then he already tended to disperse, as a consequence of that manifest superiority; He did it so easily and so quickly he could defeat the other kids that from time to time he dedicated himself to inventing or conceding ground until he perceived pressure and stepped on the accelerator again.
“That moment [segundo set] “It has been a disconnection, without a doubt,” he admits, in the self-critical line that he usually offers in the interpretation of matches. “It was 3-1 and 30-0, and then ball of play, but I played a strong forehand and it went long, and from there I had some bad sensations and the other one went up a little, and I “It took a little while,” he reconstructs, while the numerical breakdown of the match reveals that he spent 28 minutes in sealing the first set and 27 in the last, compared to 59 minutes in the intermission, in which the lapse has fueled Shevchenko, competitively light years ahead of him.
Djokovic’s ups and downs
Aware of the episode, he attributes it to the fact that he still has to warm up and that the innovations he is applying to his proposal—five grams more weight in the neck of the racket and a more fluid serve, without any pause in the process—are still bothering him. filming and naturalness are missing. And so it is. “It is a disconnection that is normal, being the first game of the year, and we will try to ensure that it does not happen again or at least happens less. It will improve,” he says convinced, already thinking that on Wednesday he will face the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, whom he beat in the only precedent between them, three years ago in Paris-Bercy.
In the event against the Asian he will once again set foot at the Australian headquarters, after the organization decided to schedule this first match on the second court of the complex. “I had trained quite a bit at Margaret Court this week, so it hasn’t felt much different. Maybe a little bit in the speed of the track, but maybe later on the Laver I feel the same; The sensations have been very similar,” he points out, while approving the regulatory novelty implemented by the oceanic giant, by bringing the benches closer to the player, at court level.
“The truth is that it has gone quite well. Having Juankiso close and being able to talk like that is good. I was afraid that it might be too intrusive, because it was too far inside the court, or that it would bother me in a certain way on the serve line, but no. No problem. Everything was great, I liked it a lot,” he points out at the end of a day in which Novak Djokovic dropped a set against Nishesh Basavareddy (4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2). “Some shots have worked well for me at certain times,” the 24-time champion introduces, “but not at others. There were ups and downs. Anyway, I finished the match well and that adds up for what’s to come.” For the first time coached by Murray, he greatly appreciates the “extra motivation” that the Scot can bring him, and refers to a potential meeting with Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.
“We are too far away to talk about those,” he warns. “But Carlos exudes intensity and energy; In that sense he reminds me a lot of Rafa. He is a very complete player, because he can hurt you from any position and on any surface. It is incredibly versatile. His level of tennis and mental maturity is incredible for his age. [21]. He has won Grand Slams in recent years and I am sure he is not going to stop here. We are going to see a lot of him in the coming years,” concludes the Balkan, while Alcaraz takes the bottle with those strong hands and leaves down the hallway to return to the hotel and rearm himself for what is to come: “Good evening, gentlemen.”
