At midday, the sun beats down hard on London’s SW19 district, as if it were Benidorm. And there in front of him, on court 14, Carlos Alcaraz can’t find his form during the session with the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who takes out the mallet, hits hard and frustrates the Murcian, two days before the opening at La Catedral. Carlitos can’t seem to see himself today. “I don’t know, but the movements, the supports, the right hand…”, he tells his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who puts it into perspective: “Don’t worry; if I saw you weren’t doing well, I would tell you.”
Direct witnesses of the scene, Alejandro Moro’s virgin eyes do not miss a detail because, after all, the Madrid native, broad-shouldered, 23 years old and 189th in the world, is fulfilling a great dream these days. The dream, in capital letters: to play his first Grand Slam. And on top of that, Wimbledon. “It is my favorite tournament since I was little, without a doubt. Just the fact of having been able to come and having been able to play the qualifying round was already super exciting. It is a great place. And, besides, I have always been more of a fan of Novak.” [Djokovic] and by roger [Federer]and the fact that they have made so much history here…”, says the only Spaniard who has been able to make the cut in this year’s qualifying phase to access the main draw.
He scans the Moorish horizon while he talks and his eyes shine, because his story goes beyond the norm and he is very aware of exceptionality. Nothing from wealthy or well-off origins. “My mother has always been a housekeeper and my father a carpenter, so no, there was not much love for tennis. Like any child, I was enrolled in a lot of sports as a child and one day, when I was playing basketball, my father parked right in front of the courts; So, when we were going to go home, I told him: I would like to try it. And that’s how I started, at the age of nine,” he says, also remembering that he comes from Torres de la Alameda, 40 kilometers from Madrid, and that Emilio Sánchez Vicario helped him “a lot” by hosting him for three years in his academies in Barcelona and Florida, because I saw that it could take off.
“I come from a family in which the media has never been what we have had the most to spare. My parents had to make a series of great sacrifices, they deprived themselves of many things so that I could play; They went a little to the limit, but well, they bet from the first moment and I was also lucky that at the school in Alcalá de Henares, where I started, they also bet on me financially because we couldn’t afford it. The other coach I bring [Boba Nikolenko, al que conoció en Estados Unidos; el que le dirige desde niño es David Flores] He has also bet on me from the first minute with that part; “Everyone has trusted that I had the level to be able to reach this situation,” she continues.
Bautista, a reference
For starters, just by making it to the main draw, he will receive a cheque for more than 70,000 euros and, he says, he has already stopped by the club shop to buy souvenirs for all his friends with the £150 voucher that the organisation gives to professionals.
“I would love to be able to bring them here, but at least this way they already have something…” continues Moro, who describes himself as the prototypical Spanish player—according to the historical pattern, not so much the modern one—“of grit, of being behind and of playing a lot. shots”, although the serve takes him to a higher level and uncovers him on grass. At the moment he has only played three matches on the ATP circuit, the three he played a year ago in Mallorca, and on Monday he will face local Jacob Fearnley. If he wins, he could meet in a hypothetical second round with Novak Djokovic in the unique Center Court.
He, however, cites veteran Roberto Bautista as his main reference. “I have always followed him a lot, I love the way he plays; I have identified with him and, in fact, last year we had the opportunity to face each other in the challenger From Valencia. It was incredible, a before and after even, in my career and in my life,” he points out, also highlighting the spirit of Carlos Alcaraz, two years younger but equally inspiring. “He is an example in every sense. “I stay with his character on the court, with how he transmits many values of tennis and with that courage and that audacity that he has,” concludes the young man from Madrid, willing to continue progressing stone by stone: “Little by little and with that base of work ”.
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