MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 7, 2022

Carlos Alcaraz

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/N. Djokovic

6-7, 7-5, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish.

Q. Congratulations for your victory. What feelings do you have after two consecutive days, you beat your idol and beat the No. 1 of the world?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, it's spectacular right now. I am very happy. I'm very excited to be able to play these kind of matches, to be able to beat Rafa yesterday, to be able to beat the No. 1 today.

So I'm super happy. It gives me a lot of confidence for tomorrow's final.

Q. Of those three things that your grandfather says, which is the one that you have used the most?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I cannot tell you one, but from head, yes. And from balls, yes, and balls too, the other one.

Q. How do you beat Rafa and Djokovic on clay? Tactically speaking, what do you do well yesterday and what have you done well today?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I think to be able to beat Rafa you need to have a really good backhand, and I think that yesterday I had a perfect match backhand-wise, playing aggressively. At the end of the day, these kind of players, if you allow them to dominate the match, you're going to be running around the court all the time. They are going to just kill you.

I think that yesterday I did really well to step inside the court, to be aggressive, and especially with my backhand, because I think that Rafa attacks you a lot to your backhand with his forehand. And then with the altitude here, I think that being aggressive with the backhand is one of the keys to be able to beat Rafa.

Today I think that being consistent, being constant all the time, be aggressive too, and in the decisive moments of the match, I think that I have been very regular. I have just tried to step in for all of it. The opportunities, perhaps I have not gone 100% for all of them. In the third set I had a few more opportunities than him, but I think that the key has been to be aggressive during all the match and consistent.

Q. Yesterday you beat the best tennis player in history, at least the one that has the most titles. Today you have been able to beat the No. 1 of the world. Today, for you, it's Saturday, 7th of May, 2022, who is the best player of the world?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, Djokovic, because he's No. 1. But I don't know what to say. Both of them are some of the best players of history. I don't know how to tell you who is the best. If you want, I can tell you in the ranking, Djokovic is No. 1.

Q. Who is the best player today, right now?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I'm not going to tell you that. The one that I know, I'm not going to tell you. I was able to beat No. 1, but still I'm ranked No. 9. I still have eight players in front of me to be the No. 1.

Q. Yesterday you beat Rafa. Today you beat Novak. Really this is going really fast. Do you have time to enjoy the situation?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, yeah, of course. At the end of good victories, you also have to enjoy them. You know, not to lose the feet on the ground but you have to enjoy them.

After today's match, well, of course with my team, with my family, well, we are going to have a great time to enjoy, to enjoy the moment, but I think that tomorrow I'm going to play a final of a really big tournament, and tonight I'm going to be very focused to be able to recover and to be as best as possible for tomorrow's match.

Q. I wanted to ask you, how do you manage mentally when you lose the first to Djokovic, because to lose first set at the beginning, it must be complicated to be able to come back. At the end of the first set we saw that you didn't have the best feelings. Also, you were talking about your grandfather says, and what do your parents tell you? Because they must be astonished.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, the fact of being mentally inside the match, I knew that it had been a first set that was very tight. It was very equal. I was a break up. I knew that I was going to have my opportunities in the second set.

Also, with one set to one, 1-All, everything could happen, could fall on either side. I think I have played a great level. He has played at a great level too. But at the end of the first set, I knew that I had to continue, because I was going to be able to have my chances.

With my parents, I still haven't seen them, so I cannot tell you (smiling).

Q. I wanted to ask you about the third set. You have had a couple of points where you have chances to close. How do you manage that tiebreak to not let yourself down?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, as I have always said, you have to try to go for the match. In those decisive moments is when you see the good players and the top players, that is where you can tell the difference between a good player and a top player, like it's Djokovic, Rafa, Federer, or all the players that are ultimately there for a long time.

I want to make a difference on that. I want to make a difference, because in those key, decisive matches, I want to go for the match.

If I play aggressive or if I lose I'm going to leave with the feeling that I have come for the match and I just let it go. I will try to have to improve, doing better, but at least I leave the court with the feeling, well, I tried to go for it, I was trying it, and that's what I was thinking on the tiebreak. I just want to step in and go for the match, whatever it happens.

Q. Yesterday I asked you if it was the best day of your life and you said it was one of the best ones. Today I have to ask you again, is today the best day of your life, and if not, what do you have in your mind for your best day?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I don't know, actually. I'm going to answer you the same thing. Probably it's one of the best days of my career, of my life, without doubts. But I don't know what to answer really. Probably in some time or maybe tomorrow I can even tell you tomorrow it really is my best day of my life.

Q. You were talking before about head, mentally. You have lost a couple of points on the first set, and then everything was different in the second one. What decisions have you taken? Had you moved around the court? What were your thoughts at that moment to change?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I tried to change a little bit my game, to be able to read the distances, to be able to have a good feeling, to be able to return better.

As soon as I was able to return balls, I was able to gain confidence, to be able to return better. I think that I have been returning little by little, not great returns but they were going inside the court, which at the end everything sums up.

I think that little by little, I was able to achieve a good rhythm, to be able to return better, putting my pressure with my return. But, well, what I was thinking is that little by little, things were going to improve.

Q. Yesterday you beat Rafa on clay. Today the No. 1 of the world. You always say that to be the best one you have to win the best ones. You are managing that. Do you think that you are up there to be able to fight against them all the time, including the Grand Slams?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I would say yes. I would say that I feel ready to compete against them in every single tournament, in every single surface.

In a Grand Slam, it's completely different. I think that when you have to play to the best-of-five sets, given that the matches are longer, I will tell you that it's different compared to all the rest of the tournaments.

But I think that I am ready. The best ones, well, they have been winning for so long Grand Slam, making it to the Finals, because they are longer, because mentally they are made of another material, but I think that I am ready.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Congrats on a wonderful victory today. You had so much success when you played with those dropshots. Is this something very natural for you, or during practices you prepare for hitting them in some special manner or way?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Both, both parts. I try the dropshots, but it's natural for me. Since I was a kid, I always played dropshots, a lot of dropshots, but, yeah, I would say it's natural.

Q. You played wonderfully overall, but what was something that you liked the most from this game against Djokovic?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: For today's match? I would say that I play in the same level since the beginning of the match until the last point. I think we played a great match, both of us, but personally, I would say that I play aggressive all the time.

I was focused all the time, as well, and, yeah, we played great rallies, great points. Yeah, I would say, well, that I played the same level.

Q. What are you going to say is the thing you developed the most in the last year since last Madrid Open in your game?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Honestly, I would say that I am more mature to manage the tough moments, the nerves, everything. I mean, to manage everything on court. Well, I think I am able to play long rallies.

I don't know how to say, but, I mean, I'm more mature. I think that to manage the nerves, to manage the tough moments, I'm ready to play against this kind of player.