Le numéro 2 mondial Carlos Alcaraz a été éliminé en quarts de finale du Masters 1000 de Miami jeudi, battu (6-2, 6-4) par le Bulgare Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov, qui a déployé un beau jeu particulièrement incisif pour battre la tête de série espagnole, affrontera samedi l'Allemand Alexander Zverev pour une place en finale. "Pour gagner contre lui, il faut jouer à son meilleur niveau. C'est comme ça, a déclaré Dimitrov après sa victoire. Je suis entré dans le match très concentré et je pense que j'étais très clair sur ce que je devais faire. Parfois, le génie est dans la simplicité. C'est très, très difficile à faire, surtout quand on joue contre un tel adversaire".
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 But I was able to keep up that level
00:07 throughout the whole match.
00:08 I think it was very, very important for me
00:11 to be clear and execute every opportunity I had.
00:16 I think that was the most important thing for me.
00:18 And yeah, I was just trying to do the best I can.
00:22 And it was a very, very good night for me.
00:28 I mean, I feel good.
00:29 I'm not rating anything yet since I
00:32 have to play again tomorrow.
00:33 So I'm trying to stay on point.
00:36 And this is how our sport is.
00:38 You appreciate it, of course.
00:40 You're very happy with the current win.
00:42 And then you have to quickly move on and start
00:44 focusing on the next match.
00:46 I think at the moment, I'm just very pleased
00:48 that I was able to go through that match,
00:51 to go through it in such a manner.
00:53 And I already have another match to play tomorrow.
00:55 So to be completely honest with you,
00:57 everything kind of shifted already for tomorrow.
01:00 But again, very proud of myself that I
01:04 was able to play such a good and clean match overall.
01:08 So yeah, very grateful to be again,
01:12 to be that far into a Masters event.
01:16 And I'm very, very excited for what's next.
01:19 Were you feeling that?
01:21 Well, I mean, of course, when you win a match like that,
01:24 you can say so.
01:26 But again, I mean, Carlos is such a--
01:30 I always call him like a firecracker.
01:31 He's amazing.
01:33 I love watching him play.
01:34 Honestly, I love watching him playing.
01:36 I love practicing against him, competing against him.
01:39 I mean, I'm 12 years older than him.
01:41 So it's honestly a lot of fun for me to challenge myself.
01:44 So it's a great opportunity for me.
01:48 But also against him, you cannot really let him hit the ball.
01:52 I think we saw what happened even
01:53 when I was up a break in the second set, the game.
01:55 He broke me.
01:56 It was straight up four forehands, absolutely nothing
02:00 I could have done.
02:01 So can I get mad?
02:04 Yeah, I can.
02:04 But there was no reason for me to kind of drift away.
02:10 I just had to stay patient.
02:13 I was aware of what was happening,
02:14 how it was happening.
02:16 And I knew that if I had another chance and opportunity,
02:19 I could really step in.
02:22 And that would have given me another opportunity.
02:26 And that's what happened, I think, in the last game.
02:29 I didn't pull back.
02:30 I kept on believing in the game that I was playing.
02:32 And again, the execution was very good.
02:34 Thank you.
02:36 Interesting you say that you're 12 years older than him
02:39 because he just said that you've made him feel like a 13-year-old.
02:42 [LAUGHTER]
02:46 That's a great comment.
02:47 So I think now you've touched on the there's
02:51 no time to celebrate.
02:53 What do you do now going in against Zverev, who
02:58 has a pretty good record on you?
03:01 Just like every other match, as I said,
03:05 we have limited time to celebrate,
03:07 to get ready, to prepare.
03:09 And right now, the most important thing
03:11 is to prepare for the match.
03:14 I'm not going to think from now what I can do.
03:20 I think it's just very important to stay in the moment.
03:25 I think that's what our game is about.
03:27 I mean, I think that's the beauty of our game.
03:31 And it's always the most simple things
03:34 are the most difficult to do.
03:36 And I think this is actually what I did tonight.
03:40 I was just trying to do everything
03:41 as simple as possible.
03:43 And any execution that I had, a sitting ball,
03:48 a ball to come in, ball to hit a slice,
03:50 to do something with the ball, I was just on it.
03:54 And I think, in a way, the same thing tomorrow,
03:56 the same thing every match that I'm going
03:58 to be playing from now on.
04:00 So there's no pulling back.
04:04 There we go.
04:04 Congratulations.
04:07 When you play such a level, is it something,
04:10 I don't know, in the afternoon at the warm up,
04:12 do you feel it coming by, I don't know,
04:14 your practice session, the warm up?
04:16 Do you have signs that it could be very difficult?
04:20 Yeah.
04:21 I love reading the horoscope every morning.
04:24 So that's the one thing I love doing that.
04:26 But I don't know, man.
04:28 That's a good question.
04:30 No, not really.
04:31 Not really.
04:32 Also, the past two, three days, to be honest,
04:35 I barely hit any balls to practice.
04:38 Conditions are very, very different
04:40 throughout the day, night.
04:42 So you always try to focus on what works.
04:48 And I think this has been always a tournament that somehow I've
04:53 been doing well, but then not well.
04:55 So it's been a very, very interesting relationship
04:58 that I've had with this event.
05:00 So I think every year I'm trying something new.
05:02 And finally, after I don't know how many appearances here,
05:06 I feel like, OK, finally I'm doing something right.
05:09 And I think I'm just going to stick to that.
05:12 And I think, again, the basic stuff, the recovery,
05:15 preparing for the matches, resting, food, all that,
05:21 it really adds up.
05:23 It's been a long trip overall, the past, I would say,
05:28 three, four weeks, plus coming from California.
05:31 So it's been an absolute pleasure for me
05:35 to be as professional as I can be.
05:36 And really, I have zero regrets.
05:38 And I think I'm--
05:42 also, I'm very, very proud of myself, but of course,
05:44 with my team and everyone that has been helping me to stay
05:48 also in that bubble, if you say.
05:52 I think it's very important.
05:54 And I think also, after years of experience,
05:56 you kind of learn a thing or two.
05:59 And yeah, I want to live every moment out there.
06:03 Last two.
06:04 Thank you.
06:04 Well done.
06:06 Are there things about your game that you think match up
06:09 well against his game?
06:11 I mean, I like his game a lot.
06:15 So I think overall, I like his game a lot.
06:19 Like, he's, for me, one of the craftiest players out there.
06:23 And sometimes, I can put myself in his shoes in certain moments
06:29 and I kind of can guess, so to speak, what might come.
06:33 But it might come.
06:34 It's not like it will.
06:37 But as I said, he's so explosive throughout the court.
06:40 So you really need to put him in an uncomfortable position,
06:44 I think.
06:44 And sometimes, you need to deliver that power yourself
06:48 in order to be able to sustain also his shot.
06:51 So it's a very interesting game sometimes,
06:54 especially when you have delicate points.
06:57 Sometimes, you have to play a little bit cat and mouse
07:00 to see who's going to hit that first shot.
07:02 But that is all in the game.
07:03 I'm sure he feels it the same way.
07:06 He's already such a complete player at such a young age.
07:11 And you could see that he generates,
07:14 he slows down the game, goes with a kick serve,
07:18 great drop shots coming into the net.
07:21 So it's a very, very completed player already.
07:25 But again, in the same time, I like that type of a game
07:28 because it also keeps me alert throughout the time.
07:31 So maybe that's one thing that I would say
07:34 is the closest to matching.
07:37 Last one.
07:38 Grigor, just to expand on that, did you
07:40 find anything specific in this last two match-ups against him?
07:45 Because obviously, you've been successful.
07:46 Did you find anything in terms of strategy,
07:48 in terms of things that you could do just to hurt him?
07:52 Completely different matches and completely different
07:54 conditions.
07:55 I would say I was actually thinking last night
07:58 to watch a little bit of our match in Shanghai.
08:01 And I was just about to press play, and I stopped.
08:05 I was like, OK, there's no need to see this.
08:08 Everything is completely different.
08:10 It's end of the year.
08:12 You're playing in Asia.
08:13 The courts are very different.
08:15 The weather, everything, everything
08:17 was a completely different match-up.
08:20 So I just wanted to come out there and have a clean sheet
08:26 and then start building from point one.
08:31 And of course, I tried it right away.
08:33 Also, I didn't have much time to, I think,
08:35 to lose out there in a court.
08:36 I couldn't allow myself to do that, to kind of put the ball
08:40 in and wait to see what he's going to do.
08:42 So what is the next best thing?
08:45 Look on your side of the net and try to basically hurt him
08:50 with every shot, every opportunity you get.
08:52 And I think that was the simplicity where
08:55 I think it really added up as the match went by.
08:59 Thank you.
09:00 Thank you.
09:00 Thank you, guys.
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