Alcaraz’s Masterful Return: Rediscovering Joy and Success on the Court

Carlos Alcaraz landed last week in Turin in the middle of a sea of ​​doubts, involved for the first time since he was in the heights in a crisis of game and results. He had not lost his good manners, but his face was more serious than usual and the training sessions prior to the start of the competition reflected a certain boredom, as if they were weighing on the tennis player; robotic execution, but little fun and even less touch on the racket; a lot of ball to the net and the corridors, and an even more worrying circumstance: no laughter. Very bad signal. He debuted later against Alexander Zverev and the defeat l…

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Carlos Alcaraz landed last week in Turin in the middle of a sea of ​​doubts, involved for the first time since he was in the heights in a crisis of game and results. He had not lost his good manners, but his face was more serious than usual and the training sessions prior to the start of the competition reflected a certain boredom, as if they were weighing on the tennis player; robotic execution, but little fun and even less touch on the racket; a lot of ball to the net and the corridors, and an even more worrying circumstance: no laughter. Very bad signal. He debuted later against Alexander Zverev and the defeat put him between a rock and a hard place. However, he triggered the emotional turn he needed. He bounced back against Andrey Rublev on Wednesday and yesterday, in a heads-up match against Daniil Medvedev, he once again uncovered the most grandiose version of him. Spark, power, technique, control. Double 6-4 against the Russian, in 1h 20m. A practically perfect machine.

That verb so essential for him, enjoy, appeared again in the conference room after a couple of months of being asked. “I am very happy to be able to play in my first Masters semifinals,” expressed the Murcian, who after losing against Zverev in the first match had a redeeming talk with his coach, Ferrero. “There was really something going on. In the last tournaments, the people closest to me or even the people who don’t know me that much, saw that I was not with the same attitude as at the beginning of the season; And I’m not talking about being more or less tired, but about enjoying. Juan Carlos opened my eyes a little, in the sense of saying: okay, you have to give your all and forget about that mental fatigue. It is the last tournament of the year. And, apart from that, we also talked about the level, and I realized that my game goes well based on whether I enjoy it or not, if I smile or not. And now all that has returned and has been reflected in the last two games,” he continued.

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He did so after an explosive demonstration of his abilities against Medvedev, one of those guys who don’t give away even crumbs and who force all the machinery to be put into full operation. An exchange expresses it all: 33 blows, runs from here to there, forehands, backhands, cuts, volleys… and a definition that puts the public on their feet and takes them back to that Alcaraz of the first half of the year, when there was practically no one who could capture him. “Yes, I feel like I am at that level,” he said, supported by the numbers. Against Medvedev, the octopus, the performance report highlights 21 climbs to the net, twice as many winners as unforced errors (22-11) and a frontal attack on the giant’s second serves, capable of retaining only 44% of the points played under that circumstance. That is to say, the cold numbers reveal joy, a fundamental ingredient in recreational tennis in Murcia.

“I would say that, after the Wimbledon final, this has been the second best match along with the Cincinnati final, because although I lost, I also count it,” he analyzed before journalists, becoming the youngest semi-finalist in the Masters Cup since Rafael Nadal, also 20 years old in the 2006 edition.

A mental plus

Overnight, another Alcaraz, the original one and, perhaps, the authentic one, or at least that Alcaraz that is known and has brought him to stardom. The temporizing version of autumn and the erratic version of recent dates have given way to their maximum expression again, and the tennis fan is licking his lips. At this point, he thinks about the general opinion and he, an optimist by nature, does it: anything is possible. “Well, it’s only two games, but at the same time it’s too far away… I have Novak in the semifinal, and if I beat him I’ll have a very tough final. But yes, I dream of winning this tournament, why not?”, he answers an Australian reporter and adds later, during the turn in the native language: “After the level at which I have seen myself today and at which I saw myself with Rublev , your head is thinking things, and right now I think that if I continue like this, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to win the tournament, but it does mean that I’m going to give myself the opportunity to do so. “This is about sensations.”

Alcaraz accesses the Pala Alpitour slope. Clive Brunskill (Getty Images)

Stimulated again, today (9:00 p.m., Movistar+) he faces Novak Djokovic, who counted on the favor of Jannik Sinner to overcome the group stage and has been limping along. His matches have been extended—two of them lasting over three hours, against the Italian and the Dane Holger Rune—and in all of them, the opponent has won a set. In any case, at this point in the tournament and taking into account the size of the Serbian, Alcaraz demands another plus. “I expect Novak to play at a high level, to be the best version of himself. We are in a Masters semifinal and he has won it six times; Therefore, he already knows how to play these types of tournaments and matches,” he warns. “He’s going to try to put a lot of pressure on me, it’s going to be a very mental game. Facing someone like him you have to stay mentally strong to cope with the pressure he puts on you on every ball, on every point. I think I have learned a lot about it and I am prepared to face it tomorrow,” he adds.

They have not crossed paths since August and in the previous four there was equality (2-2). Alcaraz challenges Nole in another of his haunts and follows the path of the Orantes, Bruguera, Moyà, Corretja, Ferrero, Nadal and Ferrer, the other Spaniards who landed in the semifinals. He does it his way: enjoying it, that’s the key.

SINNER, WITH A FULL ANTE MEDVEDEV

AC | Turin

At noon, the poster offers a succulent battle between the local idol, Jannik Sinner, and the Russian Medvedev. The Italian, 22 years old and from San Candido (in the northeast of the country), has been the most decisive so far and with three victories and a magnificent game he will represent a major obstacle for Medvedev. They will clash starting at 2:30 p.m. (Movistar+) and Sinner will disembark as one of the 10 players who have managed to sign a full match in the group stage. Roddick, Federer, Davydenko, Ferrer, Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Dimitrov and Medvedev did it before.

It will be the fifth time that they measure their strength this season, and curiously the previous four did so while always playing for a trophy. Medvedev won in Rotterdam and Miami, and Sinner in Beijing and Vienna the last two times. “He is playing in an incredible way,” says the 27-year-old from Moscow, champion in 2020; “But he still lost a couple of sets, so I’ll try to play like those who took those sets away from him.”

The Pala Alpitour in Turin will once again register another full house today (13,000 spectators).

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2023-11-18 04:15:01
#Masters #Cup #Enjoy #return #origin #Carlos #Alcaraz #Tennis #Sports