Alcaraz, hungry for more: “I want to sit at the same table as the greats” | ATP Tour

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Alcaraz, hungry for more: “I want to sit at the same table as the greats”

The Spaniard reflects after reconquering Wimbledon

July 14, 2024

Only one player in the Open Era had won his first four Grand Slam finals: Roger Federer. Now Carlos Alcaraz has joined that exclusive list by beating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) in Sunday’s Wimbledon final. The Spaniard’s message after the match is far from complacent.

“It’s obviously a great start to my career, but I have to keep going. I have to keep building my path,” Alcaraz said. “At the end of my career, I want to sit at the same table as the greats. That’s my main goal. That’s my dream right now. It doesn’t matter if I already won four Grand Slams by the age of 21. If I don’t keep going, all these tournaments for me, they don’t matter. I will try to keep winning.”

Djokovic holds the record for most Grand Slam men’s singles titles with 24, while Rafael Nadal has 22 and Roger Federer 20 in his career. How close can Alcaraz get to those legends? The Murcia native doesn’t know, but he wants to do everything in his power to find out.

“I’m very happy with the work I’m doing with my team. I’m very proud of myself, of all the great things I’m doing. I’m very proud of my people around my team. Everything we’ve done so far has been amazing,” Alcaraz said. “I really want to keep going, keep improving, keep growing, keep winning. That’s all that matters to me right now.”

“I don’t know what my limit is. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to keep enjoying my moment, just keep dreaming. So we’ll see if at the end of my career it will be 25, 30, 15, four. I don’t know. All I want to say is that I want to keep enjoying myself and see what the future holds for me.”

At last year’s US Open, Alcaraz lost a four-set semifinal to Daniil Medvedev. After the match, he was as negative as we’ve ever seen him about his game. “I’m not mature enough to handle these kinds of matches,” Alcaraz said at the time. “So I have to learn about this.”

He has apparently already learned, and the result is overwhelming. Not even Djokovic, Nadal or Federer were as young as Alcaraz when they won their fourth major. The match against Medvedev in 2023 has helped him.

“I had to grow up and be more mature in those situations. I gave up a little bit. I remember it perfectly. I gave up a little bit in the second set after losing the first. It’s something unacceptable when playing a Grand Slam. I knew that these things can’t happen again,” Alcaraz said. “It helped me a lot to get to the next Grand Slams, to be better mentally, to be strong enough, to play [mi] better tennis in difficult and close situations.”

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Alcaraz is now locked in a tantalizing battle for the year-end No. 1, an honor presented by PIF. Jannik Sinner is his biggest contender. The Italian leads the Spaniard by just 250 points in the Race to Turin, which serves as the benchmark for the year-end No. 1 race.

Alcaraz, 21, and Sinner, 22, have swept all three majors this season and have each won an ATP Masters 1000 trophy this year as well.

“I think it’s good for tennis to have new faces who win the big things and fight for the big tournaments,” Alcaraz said. “I’m very happy to have him there. As I’ve said many times, we have a very good rivalry. I think it’s great for the sport, for tennis and I think for the players as well.”

The Wimbledon champion also made sure to heap praise on Djokovic, who was unsure whether he would compete at The Championships until the days leading up to the tournament. After withdrawing before his Roland Garros quarter-final match against Casper Ruud, the Serbian underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.

“I still believe that Novak is superman because of what he has done here having surgery a few weeks before the tournament started. It’s amazing. It’s unbelievable,” Alcaraz said. “Honestly, as I said on court, I was talking to my team that the work that Novak has done has been incredible. To give himself the opportunity to be able to play the tournament and reach the final is something out of the ordinary for me. I beat him today, but for me Novak is still like superman.”

As happy as Alcaraz is with his latest win, he knows this is just another step on his path. The 15-time tour champion is excited to get back to working on his game.

“I have to keep improving everything, I guess. My forehand, at this level I think it can be better. Every year it should be better,” Alcaraz said. “I think my overall game can get better. I can’t stop. I have to keep growing and improving.”