MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 30, 2023

Carlos Alcaraz

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/G. Dimitrov

6-2, 7-5

(Press conference conducted in Spanish first.)

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. Carlos, you're one of the best return of servers in the world. Wondering how much time you spend practicing that shot compared with, say, serving and other shots? Like Federer said, he never practices his return, so I'm wondering what it is for you.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I practice the return a lot. Probably more than serving or more than other shots. I know that returning is really, really important part of the game, so I really focus on returning in every practice. In the match, as well. Yeah, I spend a lot of time returning.

Q. On that, you vary your return position a lot, like you'll be very far back sometimes and close to the baseline. What do you prefer and what are the challenges of doing the two positions?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, for me is depending on the player that I'm playing against. And depends on the day, my feelings on that day.

You know, if I feel good returning so far, so I start returning so far. But if I think that on that day and against that player it's better to return, you know, on the baseline, I do that.

I consider myself a good returner on both sides, so is depending on the day.