In order to improve his game, Carlos Alcaraz, 19, tried to learn by watching videos of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer. All three happen to be his childhood idols.
“I’m trying to see the training of the best players,” he said. “I’m trying to copy some things from the best ones. I always watch videos of Federer, Djokovic, Rafa, Andy (Murray) as well, trying to copy the moves and stuff from them.”
Alcaraz aims to be a strong force on grass one day while admitting moving on the grass is the most difficult. So far this year, he has proven that he’s able of playing very well on hard and clay, as he won the Masters events in Miami and Madrid.
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Regardless, he believes that he can learn to play well on the grass, even if it requires him to pull out all the stops on the fast lawns of London.
The grass challenge
Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, and Murray have dominated at Wimbledon for two decades as of now. Federer had eight titles, Djokovic six, while both Nadal and Murray had two each. At this year’s Wimbledon, Federer is the only one who is absent due to knee trouble preventing him from participating.
Meanwhile, Nadal was 22 when he won his Wimbledon titles for the first time and was even 20 when first reached the final at the All England Club.
“Watching Rafa – I would say he is more for clay courts – winning so many tournaments on grass, winning twice here in Wimbledon, you’d think that you are able to adapt your game to grass courts,” he said about Nadal.
Alcaraz is seeded fifth and he suspected that this year’s Wimbledon will be a tough game in his fledgling career. However, since he gets to practice on grass early in his career, it is a surface that he does not have to be worried about.
“I would say I’m able to play well on grass, and it was said I couldn’t prepare well for Wimbledon this year, but I always come to every tournament thinking I’m able to do good results or even able to win the tournament,” he said.
Alcaraz will be starting on Monday against Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany.
On the way to Wimbledon
Rising up in the ATP rankings in 2021, Alcaraz will be heading to Wimbledon on Monday as the No. 7 and fifth seed at the Grand Slam. He will be facing Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany in his first-round match.
Alcaraz approaches every event he enters as a challenge, so he is not going to rule out challenging the events this year as well.
This year, he managed to reach the quarter-finals at Roland-Garros and progressed to the same stage at the US Open in 2021. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Danill Medvedev in the second round on his Wimbledon debut last year.
However, Medvedev is missing this year’s Wimbledon after being banned from the tournament. Regarding the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players, Alcaraz expressed his regrets.
“It’s tough for a tournament to not allow the No. 1 play,” he admitted. “Everyone wants to see the No. 1 play in every tournament. It’s a pity to miss some of the best players in the world. That’s all I can say.”