Back in the ring. Carlos alcaraz (El Palmar, 2003) has been on American soil since this Friday. There he begins a tour that will take him to the US Openlatest Grand Slam of the year, in which he also defends the crown for the first time, and which begins on August 28. The first stop is Torontowhere this year the Canada Masters 1000.
The flight from Madrid was undertaken without Juan Carlos Ferrerowhich will be incorporated later for the Cincinnati Masters (August 12-20). Meanwhile, his functions with Alcaraz will be Antonio Martínez Cascalesmentor of the Valencian tennis player and director of the Villena Academy where Carlitos has been trained since he was a teenager.
Before embarking on that trip, Martínez Cascales attended to THE SPANISH. He lived in first person, from the box on the track, the historic victory of Alcaraz in Wimbledon and he was moved like Juan Carlos. But all of them have had little time to switch off and put on their work overalls again for the final stretch of the season.
[Carlos Alcaraz arranca la gira americana con un objetivo: distanciarse de Djokovic antes del US Open]
Antonio tells that he and Ferrero returned from Wimbledon almost at night the day after the final. It was Monday and on Tuesday, early in the morning, they set out on a motorcycle trip with two friends to the Pyrenees. That is why until recently he had unread messages for Alcaraz’s victory in London. “We spent until Sunday doing a motorcycle route, to disconnect,” she explains.
Alcaraz, for his part, was barely able to stop since five days later he had to play the Cup Hopmanin A string, and in his team they recognize that it was “a commitment that came very against the grain”. “He was very professional and went to compete, but the best thing would have been to rest,” reflects Antonio. Afterwards, the Murcian had the well-deserved rest from him, who had a quiet time, only with an express trip to Madrid to obtain the visa from China to be able to play in October Shanghai Masters.
Learning from the US Open
What Alcaraz did not have was to attend to more commitments. “They wanted to remove those commitments that led him upside down after the US Open,” explains Antonio. And it is that in the Alcaraz team, with his agent Albert Molina in front when it’s time to talk to the brands, they didn’t want him to go through that exhibition again after winning his first Grand Slam that ended up taking its toll.
Almost a year ago the ‘Alcaraz phenomenon’ finally exploded and the Murcian could not spend with the racket all the time that Ferrero and Antonio would have wanted. Attending to this type of commitment is implicit in every sports star now, but after Wimbledon this time they wanted to take care of themselves even more and that Carlitos really take a breather.
Carlos Alcaraz lifts the Wimbledon champion trophy Victoria Jones / Pa Wire / Dpa
Although the fans continue to experience it as something very publicized, and it will continue to grow, for Carlos and his team success should not mean anything other than having greater ambition to continue winning and meeting objectives: “Despite the fact that the Wimbledon triumph has a huge repercussion for the track that it is and, above all, for the rival, we continue to keep our feet on the ground. And him above all”, says Antonio.
“He is very calm,” repeats the one who will be Alcaraz’s coach in Toronto as he already was in Buenos Aires y Rio de Janeiro in the first quarter of the year. The team has designed a schedule that allows Ferrero to take some extra breather during the year and spend more time with his family (or visit the Rafael Nadal Academyas he has done in recent days), even if he misses some tournaments as also happened in Queen’s.
Antonio has also been in charge of Carlos’ preparation before traveling to Canada. It has been six days of work, starting with last Saturday and Sunday in which he only did physical. He then had four days of tennis, two in Murcia (Monday and Tuesday), at his school, and another two at the Villena Academy (Wednesday and Thursday).
Antonio’s assessment is positive: “Very happy because he has done very well, with a good feeling, very professional and above all with a lot of desire. It has been a very positive four days of tennis”, he stresses about this short preparation that he is now continuing in Toronto before debut.
ready for toronto
The premiere of Alcaraz, exempt from the first round as he is the first seed, will not be until Wednesday the 9th. The reason for having traveled so far in advance is so that Carlos can adjust a little more to the time change (in Toronto there are six hours less than in Spain). When he debuts, which will be at night, it will be well into the night here.
It is a determining factor to take into account at the beginning of a tour: “It will cost a little”, Antonio acknowledges. Although no one on the team goes with any expectations other than “the highest”. “He’s going to try to win as much as he can. It can’t be any other way being number 1 and with the year he’s been in. Then it can happen that he loses in the second game, for example, as he lost in 2022 in Canada, also being a very good year. Those things can always happen”, adds the one who was Ferrero’s coach in his days as a professional.
Carlos Alcaraz, in the 2022 Canadian Masters 1,000
What does not affect is the pressure: “He has already grown to where he had to grow and it is difficult for him to grow more. He is the number one, he is the favorite in all the tournaments … He takes it well”. Everyone wants to beat Alcaraz, although that won’t be easy for anyone: “People already have respect for him and to beat him you have to play a well-rounded game and he’s not at a medium-high level. Already being at that very complicated level.”
And on hard courts, winning over Alcaraz is difficult, with the tennis player having a record of 10-1 this year and an overall win rate of 75% as a professional on this surface. For the carousel and tournaments that will end in the US Open, they have insisted on serving and the feelings are positive. “I think he can do a very good tour,” concludes Antonio. The number 1 and current champion of two of the four Grand Slam of the circuit is back.
2023-08-06 00:15:00
#Open #commitments #upside
