'Carlos Alcaraz handled the pressure well', says former ATP ace

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Since winning the US Open, Carlos Alcaraz has started to feel legitimately tired. He ended the season prematurely at Paris-Bercy in the semifinals - with a withdrawal against Holger Rune, later tournament champion - but due to an abdominal problem he was forced to miss even the last two tests. The ATP finals in Turin -which obviously would have played as number one in the group-, but also the Davis Cup finals in Malaga. In summary: after a little more than a month of hiatus, the Spanish phenomenon returned quite rusty to the Mubadala World Tennis Championships, and between challenges with Andrey Rublev and in the aftermath of the Flushing Meadows final against Ruud he did what he could. Little, in the vast majority of cases. Against the Russian he lasted just under sixty minutes of play, while against the world number three, after only managing to move the zero on the scoreboard once, he at least held on to the score in the second set. Although without being able to prolong the game. Emblematic in any case was the final 6-1 6-4. In one of the many interviews he gave in Abu Dhabi, the world number one, however, had given a "flash" answer to some nice questions. The short interview later appeared on the tournament's official page. Your favorite snack of him on the court? The banana. Alcaraz had confessed that the toughest rival he would face in the three-day Arab test would be Norrie [whom he later did not face and who beat Coric to finish in fifth position], he said that the column's most famous contact is Sebastián Yatra -a well-known Colombian singer- chose the forehand over the backhand as his favorite shot, but above all he stopped at the most emotional moment of the season. "The last point of the US Open. I think it was the most beautiful moment of the entire season. It's better than becoming number one in the world," he said with a big smile before saying goodbye.

Alcaraz is working hard

During his presentation press conference, the new captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team, David Ferrer, logically spoke of his two best assets: Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz. “Carlos has the makings of a leader. At 19, being world No. 1, Grand Slam champion and taking on that pressure, I've only seen Rafa, Djokovic and a few others do it. Carlos, what he achieves is because he takes responsibility and pressure,” said the 2013 Roland‐Garros finalist in remarks reported by Marca.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/kpl2gdr

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