The Australian boy, wearing a cap and glasses, is called John and looks at Carlos Alcaraz with an eyeful while he squeezes with excitement the giant ball that the tennis player has given him, who not so long ago contemplated his idols with the same devotion; That is to say, Carlitos, 21 years old, today acts as an older brother and is exactly where the figures he admired and imitated in that El Palmar fronton once stood. That is why he invites the child to believe and dream as he did: “I would love to see you one day play on this beautiful court.” And John doesn’t hesitate: “I’m sure I will.” The Murcian (6-2, 6-4, 6-7(3) and 6-2 over Nuno Borges) is five inches ahead of him and caresses his head affectionately, perhaps thinking about what he once was and that in a snap of fingers has been getting older. “I’m talking as if I were 30 years old…”, he will say during the conference, when asked about the push of the young people on the circuit that has been palpable these days and about how difficult it is to win a major at the age he did in New York, 19 years old.
There is good vibes and laughter that then multiply in room 2, when Paula Badosa, also classified for the round of 16 thanks to her victory against Marta Kostyuk (6-4, 4-6 and 6-3, in 2h 32m), opens up : “What do I do to relax? I watch TV programs to distract myself… Like Temptation Island,” he answers to the curiosity of Morning Express. “My goodness, Paula… I’m sure not that, I stopped watching that a long time ago… I’m a golf fan,” Alcaraz reacts with a laugh that contrasts with Alejandro Davidovich’s rictus during his meeting with journalists. The 25-year-old from Malaga has also won and he has also done so with a colossal comeback against Jakub Mensik (3-6, 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 and 6-2, in 3h 30m). However, the talk takes place in a sad and flat atmosphere, not very different from what usually happens after the defeat of any player. What’s going on in that head? What happens to Foki?
Two days before he also lifted a match that seemed lost, two sets down against Auger-Aliassime, but in his speech one does not perceive joy, but rather dismay. “Well, during all these years I had many ups and downs. And I have decided that in this one I am going to fight for every point. It doesn’t matter what the result is. I don’t look at the result. I just want to be calm with myself and focus on playing, on enjoying. That gives me strength to continue,” he responds before continuing in the turn in Spanish: “Yes, there have been many changes in my life and if I have to talk, maybe I will say in the future what has happened. Right now I don’t want to give too much thought to that, I want to continue on my path. I think I have formed a very good team; We are all very connected, and in the end that also gives me a lot of security. We know we do the job very well. Changes are not easy. I tried to handle it in the best way and in the final stretch I was much better, but it was not showing all the work I was putting in. “We have had a very good preseason and little by little we are seeing the results, but two games don’t change anything.”
Davidovich won the junior Wimbledon at the age of 18 and from then on, he entered a complex spiral of expectations that have undermined him. In August 2023 it reached number 21 in the rankingthe previous year he played in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters and the previous one reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros, but then his course began to go awry without much explanation and an absolute break came: he separated from his lifelong coach , Jorge Aguirre, and the subsequent alliance with Fernando Verdasco lasted just half a year. He moved from the beach in Malaga to Monte Carlo and progressively fell down the list to the position he occupies today, 68th, while at the same time injuries plagued him. Without results and surrounded by intermittency, he now demonstrates once again that he has no shortage of tennis and projects a guerrilla message, but with a sad tone: “The path is not to give up.”
Go to bed peacefully
His body expression, however, conveys the opposite. It reveals a rather delicate moment. Are your free nature and the tyrannical nature of tennis like oil and water? He seems fed up, tired of rebelling against himself. “No, I stopped fighting months ago. [contra la irregularidad]. I have always been, as I have said, a player with many ups and downs, but it was not my essence, the truth is,” he points out with resignation; “I have had very good peaks and horrible peaks, and this feeling and all the work I have done for many months is what I like. In the end, I go to bed very calm; Even if I had lost today, I would have left very calm. I have been very uncomfortable during three sets, but I have always tried to find solutions and I am sticking with that; to continue fighting and to be calm with myself, knowing that I am doing well.”
A year ago he proposed to his girlfriend at the Trevi Fountain and then came the succession of professional touch-ups, now trusting that the turn will come and he will regain his brio. Because Davidovich is the boy who boxes, plays electronics and defends the animal cause, the imaginative and daring tennis player who played for the spectator and for whom the erosion of high competition seems to have been winning the game. Now, for the first time, he has won three games in a row in Melbourne and will try to make it a fourth on Sunday, against the American Tommy Paul. With Félix Mantilla and David Sánchez on his bench, he aspires to reengage and reincorporate the sparks and wings that he lost along the way.
“Maybe years ago I would have thrown this game, I would have thrown three balls out, but I jumped on the court wanting to play. Nothing concrete was going through my head, just wanting to be there. Compete,” he says before parting in the direction of the hotel to regain strength. And what do you do to escape and clear your mind? Maybe movies or series? “Yes, the typical thing that everyone does…” says the Andalusian with little emphasis; “In the end, we arrive very tired and the only thing you want is to rest. Nothing more, honestly.” A warrior who seeks himself reflects and competes today. An injured tennis player.
