21-year-old reflects on experience with Nadal.
Carlos Alcaraz returns to the Cincinnati Open after losing a historic title match here to Novak Djokovic in three hours and 49 minutes the previous year. This time, he has more experience under his belt.
The Spaniard brings valuable experience to Mason from the Paris Olympics, when he competed in the men’s doubles alongside Rafael Nadal. The pair lost in the quarterfinals to eventual silver medalists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram of the United States.
“It was a terrific pleasure conversing with Rafa off the court and getting to know him better. Playing doubles together was undoubtedly a fantastic experience. “It was fantastic,” Alcaraz remarked at a press conference in Cincinnati Sunday. “It was definitely something I will never forget. I learned a lot talking to him both on and off the court. Despite the fact that we are not used to playing doubles, I believe we played excellent tennis.
“A little bit disappointing at the end, because we thought that we could do it better, but in general, we were happy. And obviously talking about myself, I reached my dream, my dream came true, playing doubles alongside Rafa.”
Nadal has received numerous accolades throughout his career. The 38-year-old has topped the PIF ATP Rankings for 209 weeks, winning 22 major titles and 36 ATP Masters 1000 medals. Alcaraz was able to pick his countryman’s brain in Paris and benefit from all of his experiences. What advise did Nadal give him that benefitted the most?
“How to deal with some situations playing doubles. Sometimes when we were down, he was there in a positive way, talking to me like, ‘Well, right now they are going to feel [it] with the pressure. We have to just stay there, put some balls in, try to get them in trouble’,” Alcaraz said. “Some situations, some things that you probably don’t see, or is difficult to see, he sees very, very clear and off the court, how to prepare the difficult situations or the matches. It [was] a master class.”
Alcaraz won the silver medal in singles after losing the gold medal match in two tie-breaks to Djokovic. Alcaraz, who won Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year, is eager to learn from his failure so that he may continue to compete for and win the greatest tournaments.
After winning at Indian Wells and Miami, the second seed in Cincinnati has the opportunity to complete the American Masters 1000 title sweep.
“I always strive to be better. I always believe I could do it better. Obviously, I had a fantastic summer, with Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and Olympic silver. “Obviously, I wanted the gold medal,” Alcaraz explained. “After the matches, whether I win or lose, I prefer to reflect on the mistakes I made and strive to improve in the next match, not repeating the same mistakes in shots or dealing with certain situations. And that is what happened.
“That’s what I saw in the final in Paris, that I couldn’t deal with the situations as good as I wanted, and that’s what I was thinking after the match, just to be better, and probably being harder on myself.”