Carlos Alcaraz is in round four of the Mutua Madrid Open, having today passed what he called a \u201clitmus test\u201d. It was a day for finding out where he is, both in terms of his fitness and his tennis, in an examination that the Murcia native passed with flying colours, seeing off the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild with a decisive 6-3 6-3.<\/p>\n
Carlos loves playing in Madrid, despite the fact that the conditions are somewhat unusual on the tour. However, one of his many virtues is that he can adapt so quickly to new situations. \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t find changes that difficult, obviously it\u2019s difficult to adapt to conditions from one day to the next, but in terms of Madrid, I don\u2019t find it hard to come here and adapt to the conditions here. I think my game\u2019s a good match for the altitude here in Madrid and I feel really comfortable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Carlos is not usually one to play down expectations or slow himself down when on court, but at this point prudence is a virtue for the Spaniard. Step by step. Despite being in very different situations, both Rafa and Carlos are taking things one day at a time. There is no hurry. Carlos is in an optimistic mood, but part of him remains realistic. \u201cToday I said that it\u2019s a litmus test because of Thiago\u2019s style. He’s a player that hits the ball very hard, with a good serve. I didn\u2019t know how my forearm would handle it, but it was really great. Physically I feel really good on court, I’m moving well, my forearm isn\u2019t bothering me, so physically I think we\u2019re improving\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, the world No. 3\u2019s more cautious side then became evident. \u201cI still don\u2019t trust my forearm completely, I\u2019m still thinking about it. I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m hesitant, but the problem with my forearm is still on my mind. I love competing. Once I\u2019m on court I try to do as well as possible, but every time I push it, every time I hit a forehand that\u2019s more aggressive than I have been doing, I start to think about how my forearm might react\u201d.<\/p>\n
Carlos\u2019 current state of mind is to be expected. He is happy with the improvements he has made, while remaining cautious about what is still to come. His maturity in these circumstances, however, is perhaps more surprising. He is a young kid who loves to play at a thousand miles per hour. In his current situation, though, he has shown that he is capable of taking his medicine when required. \u201cIn the end, we\u2019re all used to seeing me, myself included, hit my forehand at 200%, harder and harder. Juanki (Ferrero) often tells me there\u2019s no need, I just need to relax and let go, which is how I\u2019m playing now. So maybe it\u2019s not 100% like my normal forehand, but it\u2019s close to 100% but in a different way. So right now I\u2019m very happy with the way I\u2019m playing. I\u2019m hitting my forehand early, relaxed and trying to time it well, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been working on for a long time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Regarding his match in the last sixteen, Carlos analysed his opponent there, Jan Lennard-Struff. Their encounter will be a rematch of last year\u2019s final. \u201cHe makes you uncomfortable, he has a great serve, he serve volleys, good shots from the baseline. I know it won\u2019t be easy, but I\u2019m very happy about the level I\u2019m playing at. I know that at this level I can do great things, although it\u2019s not my priority right now. But I know that playing at this level I\u2019ll create opportunities to try and win the match, to have chances, but I know that I\u2019m going to have to play at a good level, try and make him uncomfortable and see how the match goes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Finally, Carlitos had time to heap praise on the current world No. 2 and the 1st seed in Madrid. \u201cSinner\u2019s first round was impressive and yes, of course I see him as the favourite to win every tournament he plays in. I try to play my best tennis, I try not to let him win more titles, but I don\u2019t achieve that. But it\u2019s difficult right now, if Jannik continues to play at this level, as I said he\u2019s the favourite at every tournament he plays\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carlos Alcaraz is in round four of the Mutua Madrid Open, having today passed what he called a \u201clitmus test\u201d. It was a day for finding out where he is, both in terms of his fitness and his tennis, in an examination that the Murcia native passed with flying colours, seeing off the Brazilian Thiago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":94405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[838,824,837],"tags":[826,831],"class_list":["post-94440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-tenis-masculino-en","category-noticias-mutua-en","category-noticias-tenis-en","tag-caja-magica-en-2","tag-mutua-madrid-open-en-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94441,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94440\/revisions\/94441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}