Alcaraz: Getting Used to the Target on His Back

Carlos Alcaraz knows that players have to play out of their skull to beat him, and most of them try to do exactly that, and he’s starting to get used to it. 

It’s a theme he has harped on in recent days, and it’s reminiscent of what Serena Williams used to say about her opponents when she was at the top of the game. Everybody that faced her threw everything they had at her. 

For Alcaraz, it’s the same. 

“I’m just a little bit disappointed right now, but at the same time, I have to see the good things about this loss,” he said. “It is about the people and the players thinking that they need to play at this level if they want to beat me. So at some point it’s going to be in my favor in some ways.

“Obviously I have been playing great tennis. And I just show the players and show the people that if they want to beat me, they have to play at their best level for one hour and a half, two hours in every match,” he said. 

“So I feel good that way, but at the same time, when they play, at this level, it doesn’t feel that good,” he said with a smile. “I just have to accept it and keep it going, and from now on know that all the people are going to play like this, and I have to be ready for that.”

Alcaraz also said that he isn’t letting the pressure bother him. His 16-match losing streak ended today, but he said he’s not under any specific pressure, other than the pressure he places on himself to be the best he can be.

“I have to accept it,” Alcaraz said after he fell to Medvedev, 6-3, 7-6(3) on Saturday in Indian Wells. “But after everything, I just realized what I had to do and what I have to think before every match and before every tournament, and it is just playing for me, playing for my team, and for my close people.

“I’m not thinking about ‘I need to win or I have to win,’ he said. “It’s just about chasing my goals, chasing what I just set up before every tournament. That’s my mindset, so I’m not getting tired of people thinking I have to win every match.”