A fine player, the world number two recognized the superiority of the Frenchman this Thursday in the round of 16.
Beaten at the end of the suspense after a magnificent match, Carlos Alcaraz was full of praise for his tormentor of the evening: “Obviously I could have played better but, with my level today, I fought, I tried everything; I fought until the last point and I have to congratulate him because he played really well. The way he hits the ball is incredible, it’s fantastic. Every time we play against each other, I feel like his level has improved even more. He really plays high level tennis and I congratulate him. It is very difficult to play in these conditions. Every time, he is 100%. It’s very flat.” The Roland-Garros winner is decidedly less comfortable at Bercy where he has never made it past the quarter-finals. “I thought the speed of this court was very good for my game, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t really surprised by my game, but everything surprised me a little bit in fact, it’s a whole. Three years after falling against Hugo Gaston, the prodigy is experiencing new disillusionment in the East of Paris. “It’s different, a lot has happened in the meantime. I have had a lot of success here in Paris. There are a lot of French people who support me, so it’s a little different but, today, there was more respect than at the time and I appreciated that.”
