Exactly one year ago, Carlos Alcaraz arrived a las ATP Finals with the leads completely melted. I was out of gas. Neither in the legs nor in the head. Two years ago, he couldn’t even compete in the Turin masters tournament because his abdominal burst a few days before in Paris-Bercy. Tennis seasons are long and hard. They punish a lotmuch more than we were led to believe Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
The last test is what happened to Daniil Medvedev this Sundaywhen his head disappeared from the Pala Alpitour after committing three double faults in a row at the end of the first set against Taylor Fritz. He threw his racket to the ground several times, smashed a microphone and threatened to leave the court. I didn’t want to be there. “I want the season to end. I’m tired of fighting, I’m tired of fighting something that doesn’t depend on me“, the Russian would later say in the press room.
Aware of the crusher that is the circuit, Alcaraz A year ago he set a goal: Land in Turin fresh and with energy to be able to fight for the Masters Cup. And he has achieved it. “I have learned a lot, I know myself better as a person and as a tennis player, I know what I have to do, what I need on and off the court… I have learned what I have to do in training and on rest days. Tennis is not just going to the court and play, there is a lot behind it. It is the most important thing I have learned this year,” said the number three in the world ranking in Turin, where he will make his debut this Monday against Casper Ruud (2:00 p.m., on Movistar+).
“The season is not a ten out of ten, because you can always improve. It has been a great year for me. I would give myself an 8.5 or a 9, it could have gone better with the gold medal”
The data says that the last quarter of the tennis course, from the US Open to the ATP Finals, is the part that costs the Murcian the most. This year, however, he has accumulated 13 victories and one title – the one in Beijing – since the US Open ended.. And he is in Turin with much better feelings than in 2023. “Last year was a complicated end to the year and I was not able to play at my best level. I realized that I had to change things and I have done so. I arrive in a different way and I come with a lot of motivation“.
The phrase that sums up your ambition
That he is serious about the title is demonstrated by the fact that the Ferrero Tennis Academy, where he regularly trains, He installed a track with exactly the same conditions as in Turin. It was built, in fact, by the Greenset companythe person in charge of the Pala Alpitour mat and the surface on which the Davis Cup Finals will be played in Malaga next week.
Alcaraz is hungry. The bets place him as the second favorite, a little behind Jannik Sinner, the number one in the ranking and who also plays in front of his audience. The Italian is, precisely, one of the recipients of an encrypted message that Alcaraz has sent in the last few hours.
During the presentation of the tournament, in an interview with the ATP media, they asked him to take stock of the season and give himself a rating. “It’s not a ten out of ten, because you can always improve. It’s been a great year for me. I would give myself an 8.5 or a 9, it could have gone better with the gold medal. But yes, it would be an 8.5 or a 9“insisted Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil.
This reflection explains well Alcaraz’s hunger and ambition.. Obviously, there is no such thing as a perfect year – you are always going to lose matches – and no man since Rod Laver in 1969 has been able to win all four Grand Slams in the same year. But Alcaraz’s goals are in the stratosphere: win Roland Garros, Wimbledon and a silver medal at the Olympic Gamesin addition to the Indian Wells and Beijing titles, it is practically a round year.
But with that “8.5 or 9” he is sending a message. He wants more, he wants 10. And with his form in Turin he is sending another message: he has learned from the mistakes of the past.
