Carlos Alcaraz ready to take flight in Cincinnati, push closer to No. 1 goal

Player Features

Air Alcaraz ready to take flight in Cincinnati, push closer to No. 1 goal

Spaniard reflects on loss in Wimbledon final to Sinner

Andrew Eichenholz/ATP Tour Carlos Alcaraz is the second seed in Cincinnati, where he will play Mattia Bellucci or Damir Dzumhur in the second round. By ATP Staff

Carlos Alcaraz is excited to return to action at the Cincinnati Open, his first tournament since suffering his first Grand Slam final loss at Wimbledon to Jannik Sinner. The Spaniard is not only eager to make a splash in Ohio, but take another step in his pursuit of a return to the No. 1 PIF ATP Ranking.

“I’m really happy with everything that I’m doing so far and I’m going to try to keep it in the same way,” Alcaraz said at a roundtable with reporters Wednesday. “[There] are lot of things that I just really wanted to add to my game to be better in the matches, but right now my goal is the same: to be happy, to enjoy my time on and off the court in the best tournaments that we have in the world.

“Obviously a goal that I have in the matches [and] everything is just trying to recover No. 1 at the end of the year. So that is my goal in this second part of the year.”

Sinner will enter the Cincinnati ATP Masters 1000 event with a 3,430-point advantage over his great rival in the PIF ATP Rankings. However, the deficit is not as big as it seems. Alcaraz leads Sinner by 1,540 points in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, which is a good measuring stick for what the rankings will look like at the end of the year.

“I’m just really happy to be building such a great rivalry against Jannik. Jannik and I, I think we’ve done great things in tennis already in such a short period. I just let the people talk about our rivalry or the things that we have done for the history books in tennis,” Alcaraz said. “I’m not thinking about the history we’re making in tennis. I think we have such a long career ahead to see how far we can go and if we already made or [did not make] history in tennis. It’s just for the people to discuss.”

Alcaraz completed a stunning comeback against Sinner in the Roland Garros final to extend his major championship match record to 5-0. But after taking the first set in the Wimbledon final, Alcaraz fell in four sets. He made clear it did not take long to recover.

“It was new, but to be honest you have to be ready for that. Myself, obviously I didn’t want to lose any finals that I played, even more if it was a Wimbledon final or a Grand Slam final,” Alcaraz said. “But I left the court happy, I left the court proud. I left the court smiling just thinking, ‘Okay, at some point I have to lose a Grand Slam final. Everyone did’. So just proud.

“[There are] a lot of things that I have to improve from that match. It took me hours, not even days. So I just have to be grateful for everything that I am achieving, that I am living and being in a Wimbledon final was more than that. So even though I lost it, I just left the court proud and happy for everything I did.”

After the loss, Alcaraz took a week off to recharge and even stayed away from the gym to ensure he properly rested. Now the World No. 2 is ready to push for his eighth Masters 1000 title, beginning with his opening match against Mattia Bellucci or Damir Dzumhur.

“I’ve just been in Spain, I spent it with friends, with family. Having three weeks in the summer at home for me was something that I couldn’t believe, to be honest,” said Alcaraz, who owns a 48-6 record this season according to Infosys ATP Stats.. “I just tried to make the most of my time with everyone, with my close people there just to refresh my mind. I’m coming in stronger to Cincy, [which] is a tournament that I love playing.”

Click here to read article