“I’m not afraid to play against Tsitsipas either”

On the ‘ball shot’ of 2022: “It was an ugly gesture, but any player makes mistakes and I don’t judge him for it”

BARCELONA, 22 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz assured that he is not “afraid” to play this Sunday against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell-70 Conde de Godó Trophy, alluding to the statements of a Greek who last year had an “ugly gesture “for the ‘ball shot’ against Murcia in their quarterfinal match.

“I have seen that Tsitsipas has said many times that he wants a rematch and to play against me. It’s good, I also want to play against him, I like to play against the best and Stefanos is one of them. He likes challenges, tomorrow I have a challenge very difficult and I am not afraid of tomorrow either. Let’s go all out,” he said at a press conference.

In addition, he will review the three games, all victories, that he has played against the Greek in the past to prepare for this final, in which the Murcian seeks to defend the title. “We are going to try to see something of the games that I have played, it is good to look at what I did well to try to beat him. We are going to think about what he did not do to beat me, put ourselves in his shoes and think about what he would do to beat me,” he argued.

Still about his relationship with Tsitsipas, he acknowledged that despite this tension from the last Godó, he is cordial. “I don’t have as much of a relationship with Stefanos as I do with other off-court players. There are players who like you better or worse, but personally I find that he is a very good boy, peculiar like many other people. But I greet him, I talk to him, and he is very good boy off track”, he qualified.

“In the end, what happens on the court stays on the court. It was an ugly gesture, but any player makes mistakes and I don’t judge him for it. I know he is a good boy off the court, and on the same way. Tomorrow we will be focused in me. I’m going to play my game and we’ll see what happens but I don’t think there’s any tension because of last year”, he commented on that controversial play last year.

As for his match against Daniel Evans, which gave him the pass to the final, he recognized that it was a great semifinal. “Today I played very, very well. With a very good ‘feeling’, hitting the ball very well. A very good semifinal to gain confidence for tomorrow”, he assessed.

“One of the keys was to try to take the initiative. Evans has a style that is not much of the ground, we have tried to take that in our favor. I have had more time to support myself well, take more to the right and the initiative and it has been the key today’s game”, he said in this regard.