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I was nervous, from the first ball of the game. And even more so when he was called by the King, he once conquered his first Masters 1,000. Of such caliber is the feat of Carlos Alcaraz, the first Spanish male tennis player to lift the Miami title, the youngest in the tournament. The third youngest to win a tournament of this caliber. It’s time for him, confirmed what was expected of him. Waiting for his path to continue along this path.
He attends to the Spanish press after seven in the evening, after doing what he had never done before with the 1,000 in the trophy: posing, radio, television, a bit of celebration, more interviews than with a GS…
He is still a kid who hasn’t even turned 19, who is afraid of many things, like to the dark or to many animals and that he had a lot of nerves in the driving license exam, but, despite the fatigue, he already speaks with experience, self-confidence in his speech in English of thanks on the track, and veiled threats to all his rivals in the chat with the little group of journalists “If I want to be the best, I have to beat the best, so to be the best I have to beat Rafa Nadal on clay,” he warns.
He has something in mind to pamper himself, although he has to discuss it with his father, also Carlos and a former tennis player, because he is the one who brings him everything from off the court. He will rest for a few days, after a month and a half of maximum demand because he came from the Davis Cup and linked the two American Masters 1,000 with the semifinals in Indian Wells and the title in Miami. Later, he will have to go through the ‘laboratory’: «We will meet with the team to see what have we done right and what have we done wrong, and thus, face Monte Carlo in the best possible way«. A physical and mental demand that he has been able to carry thanks to the work of his team: »Being at the foot of the canyon, during all the tournaments is complicated. I have a good physique, I think I do, it helps me endure all the games. And I am lucky that I can travel with my physios, Sergio and Juanjo, and Fran, who is in Murcia. Having the best physios that help me recover for the following tournaments«.
It wasn’t his best game in the final, but he also knows how to win without playing well.
I have learned a lot in that regard. Before he used to leave the games saying ‘what happened’, he didn’t have a good reading of the games and even less so within the game. It is something very important and I have improved a lot by having a good reading of the matches, knowing what is happening. Telling me ‘Carlos, this is happening, we are going to try to change things that are not going well in the game, we are going to go another way’. And I think I’m doing pretty well.
With the level you are showing, are you ready to win Roland Garros?
I’d tell you yes, I’m ready. I have confidence, the level, the physical, the mentality of being able to win, maybe not Roland Garros, but a Grand Slam this year. I do see myself prepared and I’m not afraid to say it. I know there are very great players. There is Nadal, Djokovic, Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Zverev… all the ones who are the best in the world and the favorites to win the Grand Slams, but I am not afraid to say that I am ready to win one.
Since your birthday last year playing against Nadal, how have you grown and when do you plan to be number 1?
Last year it was all new experiences, almost everything was my first time and I had to experience it. Now I am a different person and a totally different player. All the experiences that I have been living have helped me to face the first semifinals of a Masters 1,000 or the first final of a Masters 1,000 as I have done today, and I am very happy about it. You never know when a Grand Slam is going to come to you, I am prepared to have a very good result or win one this year. And number 1 I hope it will arrive as soon as possible, but I can’t say when.
How do you assess the importance of winning a Masters 1,000 at the age of 18 when almost all of them have been won by Nadal, Federer, Djokovic or Murray?
It means a lot to me to win a Masters 1,000 here in Miami. It reflects all the work that we have been doing all these years with my team, with my people. I am super happy to be able to live all this so soon. But I’m a boy who wants more. I am ready for the gravel tour, for Monte Carlo and I hope to get my second Masters 1,000 on the gravel tour.
You are a different player, do you feel that way?
I am a very dynamic player. It can tell you one thing or the other. I am a player, I think, with enough resources, who can hit you differently at any given moment. That’s a good thing I have and a bad thing at the same time, because at certain times you don’t know what shot to choose from the resources you have. There are a lot of players that are aggressive, that go for it all, but there are not that many with that many resources, that want to go to the net. I would say that I am the player who makes the most drop shots.
With what you are already showing, do you feel chosen for tennis?
I am not special. I will have my space, my hole, my place in the ATP, but nothing special. Each one looks for his place. None is special on the circuit. In the end, everyone works to find their place, to try to find what they are looking for: to be number 1 or 2. I am working to find my place at number 1. But I don’t consider myself special.
For a long time he has been pointed out as going to be a great star, but why has everything gone so fast?
I think it’s because of the work I’m doing. I am doing a very good job. Every day I am putting my brick in my wall. It is something that my physio Juanjo told me, in a motivational video that he sent me. I don’t know who said it, but it was something like ‘don’t try to make the biggest and most impressive wall, but try to lay your brick every day in the most perfect way possible’. That’s what I’m doing. And thanks to that is why I’m moving up so fast.
Did you start winning when your coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, returned to Miami after your father died to be with you in the final?
It was an incredible surprise. I didn’t expect him to come, I was hoping to talk to him on the phone before the final. It was something incredible. I didn’t start winning when he came. I already won having Juan Carlos by my side at this special moment.
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