Last year, when he entered the Wimbledon main draw for the first time after rallying on grass with Roger Federer when he was still a junior two years earlier, Carlos Alcaraz experienced for the first time the sensation of playing at La Catedral.
"It was incredible," describes the Murcian, who will go into action today against the stem Jan-Lennard Struff (around 3:30 p.m., Movistar Deportes) and then received a warm ovation.
That afternoon, the English crowd definitively discovered the talent of the Spaniard, on which today there are millions of eyes.
The titles of Umag, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid already appear on his ATP file, and his presence generates an expectation similar to that of the most established figures.
"I'm not worried about expectations," says the 19-year-old from El Palmar, who attends as fifth seed, already set and seventh in the world list.
“They always want you to win and when you don't, it's a disappointment for them, but not for me.
I play for myself, for my team and for the people closest to me.
As long as it doesn't disappoint them... ”, he continues after having completed a training session that has helped him finish his debut and continue unraveling the mysteries of grass, a more than complex and extremely demanding surface.
Almost everything is different: from the color to the boat, and above all the range of resources that players need to function in a territory only suitable for the brave.
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It is.
Now, he needs time and tries to get inspiration by reviewing videos.
“I am watching matches of the best.
From Rafa [Nadal], from Federer, from Djokovic… and also from Andy [Murray].
They all move very well and I try to copy things from them”, he points out before unraveling some keys: “For me the most complicated thing is mobility.
There are people who slip, others who are afraid and don't... That costs a lot.
It's difficult to start when they drop you or move you to the side.
That first quick step is difficult for me and I try to work on it”.
And his physiotherapist, Juanjo Moreno, intervenes first.
"It's complicated, because Carlitos really likes to take advantage of his elasticity and slide, but on the grass it's different", points out the coach while pointing with his finger and indicating that "there, five minutes away", is where the team has stayed , which last year opted for a central London hotel.
Moreno, who is passionate about sports mechanics and also about nutrition, says that these days the tennis player “is learning how to make tortillas well” and Alcaraz, asked by EL PAÍS, replies that “sometime I start cooking.
I'm not very good, but I try.
I'm enjoying it, this site is different.
We've been walking and we don't lose as much time as last year.
At home we play Parcheesi and chess”.
With protection and without pain
The right elbow, which has been giving him war for some time after his time at Roland Garros – where he lost against Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals – is respecting him in recent days.
“I feel pretty good.
This week has been positive, without any pain and I have been adapting to the grass and playing with the
bracera
[a cloth protection that covers the affected area], which I had never used.
The important thing is that I am playing without thinking about the elbow, which is the fundamental thing.
Now I am prepared and one hundred percent for the premiere ”, he values.
"Yes, above all we are doing preventive work," Moreno adds before a final message that underlines Alcaraz's ambition, accompanied on this occasion by his father, also Carlos, and that after having attended Roland Garros in the front line of Candidates keeps his appetite intact: “When I go to a tournament, I always think that I can get a good result or even win it”.
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