With his first title of a Masters 1000 under his arm and after having made history with the triumph in Miami, a place inaccessible until now for Spanish tennis, Carlos Alcaraz made a leap in quality in his career and established himself among the best in the world.
The 18-year-old tennis player from El Palmar enjoys success accompanied by his team and his family. It is what he values most. He pretends to be out of the noise that his growth and evolution has generated but he has no qualms about assuring that his next goal is already a Grand Slam.
Shortly after beating the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final in Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium and placed on the edge of the world top ten, Carlos Alcaraz talks with the Agency EFE.
– Has he had time to assimilate everything or is he still in a cloud?
– A little better but I’m still in a cloud. The truth is better than the beginning. At the end of the game I didn’t know what I had really done and now little by little I am assimilating it better.
– Have you been able to celebrate this great success yet?
– In the end, the celebration is being with my family and my team and fortunately I am with them. I haven’t had time to celebrate it in Miami but in Murcia at home with family and friends I’ll enjoy it a little more.
– With what moment of the whole final and everything lived do you stay? What has been the most special?
– The most special thing of these two weeks has been the final hug with everyone. With Juanqui (Juan Carlos Ferrero), with the whole family, with all my team. That was the most exciting moment of the entire tournament.
– How have you been able to control your emotions and nerves during a final like this?
– I’ve controlled them too well. Because if you think I wasn’t nervous at the end it’s because I handled it well. But the truth is that I have been nervous from the first ball to the last. But it is true that I have been managing it better and better and little by little I have been assimilating that I was in a final of a Masters 1000 and that I had to do my best to win and thanks to that thought I have been able to hide my nerves a little and control them a little better.
– How does an eighteen-year-old boy assimilate all this that is happening?
– I’m finally fulfilling my dream. I have it clear. I also know that I have to continue working. I am a very close boy, from family, friends, from being at home. And thanks to them they also help me to be clear that I am still an eighteen-year-old boy and that when I go home to be with friends, to do what I always do, to be with the family. Do not give him the importance or more importance than he has. Or be the eleventh in the world or win a Masters 1000 but when I go home I relax, I disconnect, I go with friends. I have fun, I laugh and thanks to all those moments and to them for what I am here. I am an eighteen year old boy.
– Doesn’t it give you some vertigo?
– Not at all. I am a boy with great ambitions, who is not afraid of big things and I do not feel dizzy at all for what is coming
– Has it exceeded all your expectations so far?
– I’m on the right path and at the right time. All this has come to me because of the work I’m doing. In the end I am working very hard every day to live these moments. But I do not give more importance than it has but I am clear that we have to continue along the path I am on and if I continue like this, great things will come.
– What has the arrival and presence in the final of Juan Carlos Ferrero meant? How was that moment when he saw you arrive?
– He came on Saturday afternoon. I did not expect. Nobody told me anything. And an incredible surprise to meet him at the hotel and I am very happy to live this moment with him.
– He’s made history. Break records. He has won where no other Spaniard had been able to do so. What does all this tell you?
– This tells me that I am on the right track and that I am doing the right things with my team. I have an amazing team. I can’t ask for anything more from this team. Family, everything around me I am very lucky to have. That is what tells me that I have to continue like this and that I can achieve great things if I continue like this.
– You already have three tournaments. One of them a Masters 1000. He is the eleventh player in the world, one step away from the top ten. He is the second best player of the season. What is the next step for him, a Grand Slam? The ATP Finals at the end of the course?
– I have a 250, a 500 and now a Masters 1000… I’m not afraid to say that I’m going for a Grand Slam. It’s complicated but I think I’m ready to win a Grand Slam or to play it. I have shown in this tournament that I can beat any player right now and I hope to continue with the level that I am showing. Also another goal is to reach the ATP Finals and live that experience.
– It’s a reality, people stop doing things to see him. That also implies greater responsibility. The expectations are higher.
– Don’t believe it. I’m lucky to have a lot of people who cheer me on and watch me on television, but I’m clear that I play for myself and for my team. In the end it is true that you hear people from outside say that you have to win yes or yes but inside I know that each player is very good, that each match can also be lost and also won and I play for myself and for my team. Just as I can win against anyone, I can lose against anyone. So I don’t put that pressure on myself of having to win every game, every tournament at every moment.
– I suppose that you have already become familiar with the comparisons of Rafa Nadal that is still valid, he is the best player in history but time can conquer everything and you appear as the great hope.
– I’ve always said that comparing me to Rafa is that you’re doing things right and that you’re on the right track. But in the end Rafa is Rafa. One of the best in the history of this sport, incredible. And I am an eighteen-year-old boy who has just arrived on the Tour and who is fulfilling his dream. I have always said that Rafa is Rafa and that Carlos Alcaraz is Carlos Alcaraz. I want to be known as Carlos, not as Carlos Alcaraz. And I also hope to see Rafa for many more years on the circuit and play many games against him, learn from him and hopefully he will have many years left on the circuit.”
– The so-called ‘Big 3’, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer is out of action for different reasons. The Russian Daniil Medvedev injured for two months, and the Next Gen is somewhat irregular. Is a good outlook and opportunity opening up for you right now?
– In the end, it depends on who is considered the Next Gen. There are already players at the top, at the best. Medvedev is still young, we don’t count him as Next Gen. Alexander Zverev is young and has a chance of winning a Grand Slam, being number one in the world… Stefanos Tsitsipas… there are still quite a few young people who are 23, 24 years old with a long career to in front. But there are also young people my age, like Korda, Hugo Gastón, there are many 20 or 19-year-olds who push themselves up and I like to share the dressing room with them in the big tournaments, talk about what we are doing. I think there is a generation coming in which I include myself, very, very good, who can play great games against great players. But I hope that the big three have many years left on the circuit, we can learn from their experience.
– What are your plans now? What are your next tournaments?
– I’m going to play Monte Carlo for sure. The essentials. Montecarlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros. You can change. I can play some 500 or 250 but for now I plan to play the essentials.
– Will you feel like resting first, before facing the gravel (clay) season?
– Obviously a few days are good. I have been a month or more without stopping, at the foot of the canyon and it is good to stop and a few days of rest always come in handy.
